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Written by one of the leading asbestos experts for both plaintiff and defense attorneys, occupational and environmental health professionals, as well as others in the field of toxic substances control, Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects has become the definitive resource on the medical and legal aspects of asbestos.

Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects provides a comprehensive examination of the public health history of asbestos, from the origins of industrial use to the present. It includes in-depth coverage of prior and ongoing litigation; extensive evaluation of the legal arguments put forth by plaintiff and defense counsel; and provides crucial information, materials and resources on the evolving corporate knowledge of asbestos hazards. The book covers in detail: asbestosis and cancer; compensability of asbestosis and cancer as occupational diseases; thresholds and standards used to determine safe or acceptable levels of asbestos exposure in the workplace; and company knowledge of asbestos hazards, gleaned from countless depositions, company records, industry consultants and trade associations.

Some items new to the Fifth Edition include:

extensive discussion of corporate knowledge and responsibility for asbestos hazards
extensive examination of the international struggle over asbestos, whereby some countries have banned asbestos while others have continued to expand their usage of asbestos in building materials
detailed discussion of alternatives to asbestos.

“Extensive bibliographies, appendices listing the natural and synthetic fibrous minerals and materials, together with a mineralogical and medical glossary, complete a professional overview of a serious problem.” –Australian Mineral Foundation Informative Book Review
“This monograph may not only be useful for occupational professionals, it’s worth reading also for all those, concerned with environmental health.” –Arbeitsmedizin

This comprehensive sourcebook describes the chemical, physical, and mineralogical aspects of fibrous inorganic materials, both synthetic and naturally occurring. A general description of the fibrous state, the range of compounds that can adopt this form, and an overview of the characteristics unique to such materials form the backbone of the book . The authors also assess the application and use of asbestos and other fibrous materials in industry and evaluate their potential as health hazards. The information gathered here will be highly useful to medical investigators and legal professionals involved in environmental health.

“This is a comprehensive textbook on asbestos. a ] The ‘pathological’ chapters are excellent and are logically set out. a ] The accompanying photographs in each chapter are a ] crisp, and demonstrate their purpose with finesse. Overall, these features make the book an absolute must for a pathologist whose working practice involves significant asbestos case exposure.” (Dr. S. Kolar, acp News a” Winter, 2004)
Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina. Reference to pathologic abnormalities associated with exposure to asbestos fibers, for pathologists. 14 Contributors. DNLM: Asbestos pathology.

Beyond the Factory Gates examines the issue of asbestos and health in the USA between the early 1900’s to the mid-1970s. Areas covered include the emergence of medical concern about the three fatal diseases related to asbestos (asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma); the actions of the US Navy (the main consumer of asbestos-based insulation products); the response of the federal government before and after enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970; and the roles of organized labour and the asbestos industry.

The book provides an important insight into occupational health and its regulation in twentieth century America, and is original in several ways. First, there is no satisfactory history of asbestos, health and medicine in the USA – a major gap in the literature. Second, no previous publication has examined the asbestos issue ‘beyond the factory gates’ in a non-manufacturing context and explored the complex interactions between organised labour, the US Government, business corporations and the US navy. Finally, Beyond the Factory Gates avoids the one-sided, anti-business interpretations that predominate much of the existing literature. It accepts that the history of asbestos is in many ways a human tragedy, but it rejects simplistic, universalised arguments that this has been a tragedy with a cast only villains, dupes and victims.

For much of the industrial era, asbestos was a widely acclaimed benchmark material. During its heyday, it was manufactured into nearly three thousand different products, most of which protected life and property from heat, flame, acids, and electricity. It was used in virtually every industry from hotel keeping to military technology to chemical manufacturing, and was integral to building construction from shacks to skyscrapers in every community across the United States. Beginning in the mid-1960s, however, this once popular mineral began a rapid fall from grace as growing attention to the serious health risks associated with it began to overshadow the protections and benefits it provided.

In this thought-provoking and controversial book, Rachel Maines challenges the recent vilification of asbestos by providing a historical perspective on Americans’ changing perceptions about risk. She suggests that the very success of asbestos and other fire-prevention technologies in containing deadly blazes has led to a sort of historical amnesia about the very risks they were supposed to reduce.

Asbestos and Fire is not only the most thoroughly researched and balanced look at the history of asbestos, it is also an important contribution to a larger debate that considers how the risks of technological solutions should be evaluated. As technology offers us ever-increasing opportunities to protect and prevent, Maines urges that learning to accept and effectively address the unintended consequences of technological innovations is a growing part of our collective responsibility.

Although asbestos was once considered a miracle mineral, today even the word itself has ominous implications for all strata of our society. Incorporated in the past into over 3000 different industrial and consumer products, as well as in building materials and military equipment, opportunities for exposure continue to be ever present in our environment. Of all of us who are potentially exposed, blue collar workers are at greatest risk.

Countless thousands of workers and servicemen in a wide variety of trades were disabled or have died consequent to the health effects of asbestos, and many more can be expected to be affected in years to come. Litigation continues, and financial awards in the billions have bankrupt many Fortune 500 companies and numerous smaller companies.
While one might implicate our forefathers in this widespread, relentless medical catastrophe, it has been only in recent decades that science has appreciated the complexities of the problem and the long latencies before the asbestos-associated diseases appear clinically. After all these years, prevention remains the hallmark of disease control, as modern treatments remain, to a large extent, futile.

While there are hundreds of books available on many different aspects of asbestos, none contain the encyclopedic, comprehensive coverage you will find here. Edited by leading authorities, with contributions from specialists and leaders in their respective fields, Asbestos: Risk Assessment, Epidemiology, and Health Effects provides a cross-disciplinary approach and an authoritative review of asbestos research.

The breadth and depth of coverage spans history, pathology, epidemiology, as well as sampling, analysis, and regulatory issues. Following the path of asbestos from its natural sources to its effects at the cell, organism, and population levels, the volume covers testing methods, types of exposure, and the associated health effects. It provides a multi-disciplinary look at sampling methods, analysis, pathology, and regulations.

The book explores differences in the detection levels achieved with various techniques applied to the various types of environmental and human samples. This includes comparisons of recommended and/or required sampling schemes and the parameters associated with the instruments used in each of the methods. Offering state-of-the-art data on asbestos exposure and the resultant development of disease, the content is styled so that the depth of coverage is sufficient for specialists and researchers but also useful for anyone having to deal with asbestos-related problems.