Concentration of airborne asbestos fiber in indoor and outdoor environment of a slate roofing house, and health risk assessment

Asbestos Exposure Level and the Carcinogenic Risk Due to Corrugated Asbestos-Cement Slate Roofs in Korea

“…However, in our study, 89.22% were at moderate risk (1.0 × 10 −5 ≤ ELCR < 1.0 × 10 −4 ), whereas in the study of Jeong et al [ 5 ], 50% of subjects had an ELCR of 1.0 × 10 −4 or higher, and in the study of Heo et al [ 9 ], 60% of subjects had an ELCR of 1.0 × 10 −4 or higher. Therefore, there is a possibility that the results of our study may indicate a lower risk estimate.…”

“…Two previous Korean studies have measured the risk of carcinogenesis in residents of asbestos-cement slate houses. In the study of Jeong et al [ 5 ], ELCR was found to be at the level of 3.5 × 10 −5 to 1.5 × 10 −4 , and in the study of Heo et al [ 9 ], the level was 3.21 × 10 −4 to 2.26 × 10 −5 , and the average level was 1.27 × 10 −4 . The ELCR value of indoor asbestos-cement slate exposure in our study, of 4.81 × 10 −5 , was within the range seen in the two above-mentioned studies.…”

“…Previously, there have been studies to measure the exposure level of airborne asbestos from asbestos-cement slate-roofed buildings, but the measurement conditions and results showed significant variations, making it difficult to determine a specific value to represent the degree of exposure [ 8 ]. Only a few studies have attempted to calculate the carcinogenic risk from this exposure [ 5 , 9 ]. Given the paucity of data, we calculated a representative value of the exposure concentration of asbestos in an asbestos-cement slate-roofed house by analyzing the results of past studies to propose a standard value for the asbestos injury relief system and analyzed the carcinogenic risk due to exposure to asbestos-cement slate roofs.…”