A REVIEW OF THE NIOSH ROADMAP FOR RESEARCH ON ASBESTOS FIBERS AND OTHER ELONGATE MINERAL PARTICLES

Prior and ongoing exposures to asbestos continue to contribute to respiratory diseases—including mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis—despite the fact that asbestos is no longer mined in the United States. To examine ongoing issues and concerns in this field, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released a research roadmap in January 2009, Asbestos Fibers and Other Elongated Mineral Particles: State of the Science and Roadmap for Research, that provides an overview of the state of the science and a plan for future research in areas including toxicology, mineralogy, epidemiology, and exposure assessment. The proposed research focuses on clarifying the relationship between human health effects and the physical and chemical characteristics of a wide range of elongate mineral particles. In 2008, NIOSH asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Research Council (NRC) to form a committee to review the scientific and technical quality of the NIOSH Roadmap. The committee found that NIOSH has put together a comprehensive and broad-based research Roadmap that could be improved through implementing a systematic and interdisciplinary approach to the outlined research. The full IOM review of the NIOSH Roadmap can be found on line at: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12697. This presentation, from a member of the IOM committee, will review the charge to the IOM and present the findings of the committee with emphasis on the geological and mineralogical aspects of the review. Some of the possible implications of those findings to the broader asbestos community will also be discussed.