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Review
. 2022 Mar 29;19(7):4031.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19074031.

Asbestos and Other Hazardous Fibrous Minerals: Potential Exposure Pathways and Associated Health Risks

Terri-Ann Berry  1 , Elena Belluso  2 , Ruggero Vigliaturo  2 , Reto Gieré  3 , Edward A Emmett  4 , Joseph R Testa  5 , Gregor Steinhorn  1 , Shannon L Wallis  1
Affiliations
Review

Asbestos and Other Hazardous Fibrous Minerals: Potential Exposure Pathways and Associated Health Risks

Terri-Ann Berry et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

There are six elongate mineral particles (EMPs) corresponding to specific dimensional and morphological criteria, known as asbestos. Responsible for health issues including asbestosis, and malignant mesothelioma, asbestos has been well researched. Despite this, significant exposure continues to occur throughout the world, potentially affecting 125 million people in the workplace and causing thousands of deaths annually from exposure in homes. However, there are other EMPS, such as fibrous/asbestiform erionite, that are classified as carcinogens and have been linked to cancers in areas where it has been incorporated into local building materials or released into the environment through earthmoving activities. Erionite is a more potent carcinogen than asbestos but as it is seldom used for commercial purposes, exposure pathways have been less well studied. Despite the apparent similarities between asbestos and fibrous erionite, their health risks and exposure pathways are quite different. This article examines the hazards presented by EMPs with a particular focus on fibrous erionite. It includes a discussion of the global locations of erionite and similar hazardous minerals, a comparison of the multiple exposure pathways for asbestos and fibrous erionite, a brief discussion of the confusing nomenclature associated with EMPs, and considerations of increasing global mesothelioma cases.

Keywords: asbestiform; asbestos fibres; erionite; exposure; malignant mesothelioma.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Most common identified locations of zeolites and specific occurrences of erionite and offretite (without distinction between habits). Key: purple = zeolites (general); yellow = erionite (only); orange = offretite (only); red = erionite and offretite. References: Zeolite Mining–[31,32,33]. Erionite deposits–[34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44] and mentioned in [45]. Offretite deposits–[36,46].
Figure 2
Figure 2
The four waves of asbestos exposure (figure based on Landrigan, 1991 [55]) and reproduced from Wallis et al., 2020 [54]).
Figure 3
Figure 3
A summary of potential exposure pathways for asbestos exposure globally.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A summary of potential exposure pathways for erionite and other EMPs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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