Asbestos

In conjunction with drafting comprehensive legislation concerning compensation for health effects related to asbestos exposure (the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Act), the Senate Committee on the Judiciary directed the Institute of Medicine to assemble the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects. This committee was charged with addressing whether asbestos exposure is causally related to adverse health consequences in addition to asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Asbestos: Selected Cancers presents the committee's comprehensive distillation of the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature regarding association between asbestos and colorectal, laryngeal, esophageal, pharyngeal, and stomach cancers. Table of ContentsFront MatterSummary1 Introduction2 Committee's Approach to Its Charge and Methods Used in Evaluation3 Background Information on Asbestos4 Exposure and Disposition5 Biological Aspects of Asbestos Related Diseases6 Description of Epidemiologic Studies Included in Evidentiary Dataset7 Pharyngeal Cancer and Asbestos8 Laryngeal Cancer and Asbestos9 Esophageal Cancer and Asbestos10 Stomach Cancer and Asbestos11 Colorectal Cancer and Asbestos12 Summary and RecommendationsAPPENDIX A Agendas of Public Meetings Held by the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health EffectsAPPENDIX B Lineage and Design Properties of Studies on Cohorts Informative for Selected CancersAPPENDIX C Description of Case-Control Studies of All Selected Cancers as Related to Exposure to AsbestosAPPENDIX D Cohort Results TablesAPPENDIX E Case-Control Results TablesAPPENDIX F Initial Analyses of Available Data Concerning Cancers of Colon and/or Rectum and Asbestos ExposureAPPENDIX G Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects