[Environmental Factor - January 2010 Issue] Group Gathers for Asbestos and Related Fibers Meeting

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Group Gathers for Asbestos and Related Fibers Meeting

By January 2010

Birnbaum told the audience that the papers emerging from the workshop

would help advance research on the health effects of exposure to

asbestos and related mineral fibers.

(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

Shown

above during the presentations are Maureen Gwinn of EPA, center, and

, Ph.D., far right, of NIEHS SRP, who gave opening

remarks. called the meeting "a different kind of workshop"

that would end with a document. (Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

Among several scientists from NIEHS and NTP at the meeting was

Masten, Ph.D., above, who participated in planning the workshop.

(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

In

her discussion of pleural endpoints, Brown University's Agnes Kane,

M.D., Ph.D., described the anatomical differences among species that

make extrapolation of data from asbestos experiments to humans so

challenging. "There's a lot more we don't know about these [asbestos

and related mineral fiber] diseases than we do know."

(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

NIEHS

attendees included, left to right, Health Scientist Administrators Mike

Humble, Ph.D., Henry, Ph.D., and Acting Deputy Director Steve

Kleeberger, Ph.D., who is a respiratory biologist.

(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

NIEHS scientists, federal partners, representatives from industry,

and members of the academic community gathered in Chapel Hill, NC, Dec.

16–17 (2009) to discuss the state of the science on asbestos and develop

recommendations for future work. The NIEHS, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency (EPA), Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease

Registry (ATSDR), and NIEHS Superfund Research Program (SRP) sponsored

the two-day meeting.NIEHS/NTP Director Birnbaum, Ph.D.,

opened the public session of the meeting by stressing the importance of

moving beyond the traditional definition of asbestos. She pointed to

three central questions participants should strive to better

understand:

What do researchers know about the modes and mechanism of actions of all fiber characteristics on health outcomes?What characteristics of these fibers drive the health effects of exposure? What future research is necessary to answer remaining data gaps?

More interdisciplinary training and low dose research neededThe

workshop began with six small working-group sessions, with each

addressing specific aspects of research or health endpoints in depth.

The topics included pulmonary and non-pulmonary health effects, the

role of gene mutation, factors affecting disease susceptibility, and

exposure anomalies. After they summarized the state of the

science in these areas during a plenary presentation of key findings,

workshop participants met in four interdisciplinary groups to address

confidence areas, data gaps, and research needs. Among the

recommendations was a nearly unanimous call for graduate students to be

trained in interdisciplinary research methods to interact with

scientists from a wide range of disciplines. When discussing

data gaps and research needs, researchers expressed a need for studies

conducted at ever-lower doses, in response to industrial exposure

patterns seen since OHSA began regulating asbestos in the 1970s. Most

laboratory and environmental exposure case studies involve high doses,

far above the levels encountered in modern occupational settings.

However, even at low doses, asbestos may cause health problems. While

most research to date has involved diseases of the heart and lungs,

workshop participants stressed the need to investigate endpoints beyond

these two systems. This is important because, as Birnbaum pointed out,

"If you only look where you've always looked, that's all you're ever

going to find." Meeting conclusions will be publishedWriting

groups will compile notes and materials from the workshop into a

consensus document for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. In

addition, scientists attending the workshop prepared six white papers

in advance of the meeting that they will submit for publication in a

peer-reviewed journal as a set of state-of-knowledge review articles.(

is an environmental health information specialist for MDB, Inc.,

a contractor for the NIEHS Superfund Research Program and Worker

Education and Training Program.)

Columbia University Professor of Radiation Oncology Tom Hei, Ph.D.,

joked about the graying of his colleagues in asbestos research. "We do

need fresh blood in the community," he said.

(Photo courtesy of Steve McCaw)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SOURCE: Environmental Factor - January 2010 Issue | http://www.niehs.nih.gov/news/newsletter/2010/january/science-asbestos.cfm