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Saturday 21, November, 2004 09:30 - 10:30, No.2 Conference Room Workshop H Asbestos and Shipyards Chairs: Hirotaro Miura and Claudio Bianchi Claudio Bianch, Tommaso Bianch Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer - Italian League against Cancer, Italy ABSTRACT 1) Exposure to various types of asbestos occurred in shipyards since the last two decades of the 19th century. In the 20th century the problem became severe, particularly in some countries with high shipbuilding activity. During the first half of the century, UK was by far the most important producer, with US having intense naval production during the two World Wars. The second half of the century is marked by the enormous rise of shipbuilding activity in Japan, and later in South Korea. Apart from the major producers, various countries, especially in Europe, showed important shipbuilding activity. 2) The features of asbestos exposure in shipyards may be reconstructed on the basis of studies conducted at necropsy. All people working in shipyards were involved. The intensity of exposure varied widely. In studies performed in the shipyard area of Monfalcone, Italy, pleural plaques were observed among shipyard workers in 80-90% of the cases. Plaques varied in size with 21.2% being small, 33.1% being moderate, and 32.4% large. Asbestos bodies were visible on routine lung sections in 35% of the cases. Isolation of asbestos bodies after chemical digestion of the lung showed burdens higher than 1,000/gram of dried tissue in 78.6% of the cases, and higher than 10,000/gram in 49.1%.Both chrysotile and amphiboles were detected in lungs, lymph nodes, and pleura from shipyard workers. 3) The geography of malignant mesothelioma reflects exactly shipbuilding activity. The highest mesothelioma incidences have been reported from shipyard areas. Since some decades exposure to asbestos has been stopped or reduced in the shipyards of various countries. However, exposure to different types of asbestos, including crocidolite, continued in many shipyards until few years ago. This suggests that, among shipyard workers, a high mesothelioma incidence will be observed in the next decades too. |