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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is claiming
that asbestos fibers shorter than 5 microns in length are safe and harmless. EPA's testing
of air in apartments in NYC, contaminated by asbestos after the WTC collapse, only looked
for these longer fibers. EPA ignored all the shorter fibers that it found.
EPA is assuming that the very small fibers are cleared from the body
because they are small enough to be engulfed by macrophages, and thus do not remain long
enough to cause cancer.
However, these two new studies contradict this hypothesis.
There are other studies as well which contradict EPA's hypothesis.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) held a
conference in New York City last week bringing together a very limited, select number of
researchers who are working on this controversial "small fiber" issue. We do not
know whether or not the ATSDR is intending to consider all the available evidence on small
fibers, or apply the precautionary principle and assume that the small fibers have
carcinogenic effects until absolutely proven to be harmless.
Cate Jenkins
EPA
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Asbestos tissue burden study on human
malignant mesothelioma.
To view this article, Click Here (NOTE: you will need to
view the article [.pdf] using Adobe Acrobat)
Industrial Health, 39, 150-160.
Y. Suzuki and R. Yuen (2001)
[Mount Sinai School of Medicine]
Asbestos fibers contributing to the induction of human
malignant mesothelioma.
To view this article, Click Here (NOTE: you will need to
view the article [.pdf] using Adobe Acrobat)
Y. Suzuki and R. Yuen (2002)
[Mount Sinai School of Medicine]
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, in press.
** POSTED NOVEMBER 4, 2002
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