SYMPOSIUM ON MMMF, COPENHAGEN, OCTOBER 1986: OVERVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS

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Abstract
Information about the mortality of workers employed in the production of man-made mineral fibres (MMMF) has been increased by the extension for 5 yr of cohort studies of workers in Canada, Europe and the United States. Collation of the results provides information about 7862 deaths in 41 185 MMMF workers, many of whom were first employed in the 1940s, and subsumes the vast majority of all previously reported mortality data. When short-term and office workers are excluded and the numbers of deaths are compared with those that would have been expected had the workers experienced national mortality rates (or provincial rates in the Canadian series) it is found that the mortality from lung cancer (SMR 121) was raised, but that the mortality from other cancers (SMR 101), other respiratory disease (SMR 103) and all other causes of death (SMR 100) was close to that expected. Division of the workers by type of product and time since first exposure showed that the mortality from lung cancer was highest in the rock or slag wool sector of the industry (SMR 128), intermediate in the glass wool sector (SMR 110) and lowest in the continuous filament glass sector (SMR 93), and that within the first two groups mortality rose with time since first exposure to a maximum after 30 or more yr (rock or slag wool, SMR 141; glass wool, SMR 119). Within the U.S. glass wool industry, the mortality from lung cancer was higher in those men who had ever been exposed to small-diameter fibres (SMR 124) than in others (SMR 108). No relationship was observed with duration of employment nor with cumulative fibre dose. In a case-control study, however, a weak relationship with cumulative fibre dose was observed in the rock and slag wool Sectors of the industry, after differences in smoking habits were taken into account. No evidence was obtained of a risk of mesothelioma or any other type of cancer. The mortality from chronic non-malignant respiratory disease in the U.S. Series was raised (SMR 132) in comparison with national mortality, but other data fail to support the idea that this reflected an occupational hazard of chronic obstructive lung disease. It is concluded that an occupational hazard of lung cancer has been demonstrated in the rock and slag wool section of the industry and possibly in the glass wool section. Uncertainty about fibre counts in the early years of the industry and about the extent to which other carcinogens were present in the atmosphere of the plants precludes an estimate of the quantitative effects of exposure to current fibre levels, except that it is unlikely to be measurable.

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