Asbestos brake linings and blocks are currently used in heavy vehicle brake repair shops (BRSs) in Bogotá, Colombia. Some brake products are sold detached from their supports and without holes, requiring manipulation before installation. The aim of this study was to assess asbestos exposures and conduct a preliminary evaluation of respiratory health in workers of heavy vehicles in BRSs. To estimate asbestos exposures, personal and area samples were collected in two heavy vehicle BRSs. Each shop was sampled during six consecutive days for the entire work shift. Personal samples were collected on 10 workers including riveters, brake mechanics, and administrative staff. Among workers sampled, riveters had the highest phase contrast microscopy equivalent (PCME) asbestos concentrations, with 8-h time-weighted average (TWA) personal exposures ranging between 0.003 and 0.157 f/cm(3). Respiratory health evaluations were performed on the 10 workers sampled. Three workers (30%) had circumscribed pleural thickening (pleural plaques), with calcifications in two of them. This finding is strongly suggestive of asbestos exposure. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that workers in heavy vehicle BRSs could be at excessive risk of developing asbestos-related diseases.
Introduction: Asbestos have been used in a broad variety of industrial products, including clutch discs of the transmission system of vehicles. Studies conducted in high-income countries that have analyzed personal asbestos exposures of transmission mechanics have concluded that these workers are exposed to asbestos concentrations in compliance with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (U.S. OSHA) occupational standards.
The results indicate that the brake mechanics sampled are exposed to extremely high asbestos concentrations (i.e. based on transmission electron microscopy counts), suggesting that this occupational group could be at excess risk of asbestos-related diseases.
Asbestos (all forms, including chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite, and anthophyllite) is carcinogenic to humans and causally associated with mesothelioma and cancer of the lung, larynx, and ovary. It is one of the carcinogens most diffuse in the world, in workplaces, but also in the environment and is responsible for a very high global cancer burden. A large number of countries, mostly with high-income economies, has banned the use of asbestos which, however, is still widespread in low- and middle-income countries. It remains, thus, one of the most common occupational and environmental carcinogens worldwide. Italy issued an asbestos ban in 1992, following the dramatic observation of a large increase in mortality from mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases in exposed workers and also in subjects with non-occupational exposure. A mesothelioma registry was also organized and still monitors the occurrence of mesothelioma cases, conducting a case-by-case evaluation of asbestos exposure. In this report, we describe two Italian communities, Casale Monferrato and Broni, that faced an epidemic of mesothelioma resulting from the production of asbestos cement and the diffuse environmental exposure; we present the activity and results of the Italian mesothelioma registry (ReNaM), describe the risk-communication activities at the local and national level with a focus on international cooperation and also describe the interaction between mesothelioma registration and medical services specialized in mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment in an area at high risk of mesothelioma. Finally, we assess the potential application of the solutions and methods already developed in Italy in a city in Colombia with high mesothelioma incidence associated with the production of asbestos-cement materials and the presence of diffuse environmental asbestos pollution.
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