Microstructures and biological influence of environmental exposure of asbestos

Issue title: Selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Nanotoxicity Assessment and Biomedical Environmental Application of Fine Particles and Nanotubes, Hokkaido, Japan, 16–17 June 2008, Part 2

Article type: Review Article

Authors: Yada, Keiji^; | Kohyama, Norihiko

Affiliations: Tohken Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan | Faculty of Economics, Toyo University, Tokyo, Japan

Note: [] Address for correspondence: Keiji Yada, 2-27-7 Tamagawa Choufu, Tokyo 182-0025, Japan. Tel.: +81 42 484 6155; Fax: +81 42 489 9241; E-mail: kyada@tohken.co.jp.

Abstract: Asbestos minerals are thin fiber type of minerals and honorably said as “the minerals of the miracle” because of their valuable natures even in the strategic field. On the other hand, the relation between asbestos exposure and diseases such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma was proved around 1970 by epidemiology and an animal experiment in relation to their microstructures. Here, microstructures of chrysotile asbestos, a mainstream of asbestos substances, are shown. It is also shown that in what kinds of environment people are exposed to asbestos and what kinds of biological or epidemical things happen after asbestos exposure. Many kinds of fibrous materials as the substitutes of asbestos are described in relation to their carcinogenicity.

Keywords: Structure of asbestos, biological influence of asbestos exposure, asbestos substitutes

DOI: 10.3233/BME-2009-0585

Journal: Bio-Medical Materials and Engineering, vol. 19, no. 2-3, pp. 231-239, 2009