Current research: Asbestos in the lungs remains an everlasting cancer risk
A team of researchers led by Inke Feder and Prof. Dr. Andrea Tannapfel from the Institute for Pathology at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), together with the Institute for Prevention and Occupational Medicine (IPA) of the German Social Accident Insurance (Deutsche Gesetzliche Unfallversicherung), has published the latest research findings on the biostability of asbestos in the human lung.
Message title: 'Asbestos is imperishable'
After evaluation of data from the German Mesothelioma Register at the Institute for Pathology of the RUB, it was found that asbestos fibres, regardless of whether they are amphibol asbestos (such as blue asbestos, crocidolite) or chrysotile (white asbestos), are not biosoluble, and the asbestos fibre concentration in the lungs remains stable over a period of almost 40 years.
In particular, the dangerous nature of chrysotile, the technically most commonly used type of asbestos, has been repeatedly questioned in the past. This work is all the more valuable as it finally brings clarity to this intensively discussed topic.
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