Asbestosis Epidemics Caused by Non-occupational Neighborhood Exposure

Yeon-Soon Ahn; Hyoung-Ryoul Kim

doi:10.5124/jkma.2009.52.5.472

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Ahn and Kim: Asbestosis Epidemics Caused by Non-occupational Neighborhood Exposure

Focused Issue of This Month

Harmful Effects of Asbestos and the Related Disease Status in Korea

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2009; 52(5): 472-481.

Published online: 30 May 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2009.52.5.472

Asbestosis Epidemics Caused by Non-occupational Neighborhood Exposure

Yeon-Soon Ahn, MD¹, Hyoung-Ryoul Kim, MD²

¹Department of Occupational Medicine, Dongguk University College of Medicine, Korea. ysahn@dongguk.ac.kr

²Department of Preventive Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine, Korea. cyclor@catholic.ac.kr

Abstract

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral in the Earth's crust, and it is not confined to the historic and current asbestos mining areas, but rather quite commonly encountered in certain geological environments across the world. The middle-west side of the Korean Peninsula (Chungnam province) has been composed of numerous talc and asbestos ore deposits derived from serpentine and dolomite. These areas have experienced epidemics of malignant mesothelioma and pleural plaques as a result of non-occupational "neighborhood" exposure and naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) exposure. However, asbestosis epidemics from environmental exposure were rare because asbestosis needs relatively high concentration of asbestos exposure. This review summarizes asbestosis epidemics which occurred in the residents who have lived past or current asbestos mining areas and natural in-place asbestos deposits (or asbestos-like mineral deposits) in the world, including Korean asbestosis endemics that occurred in Chungnam province, which has many historic asbestos mining. Also, this manuscript will describe effective public policies for managing NOA, minimizing potential hazards, and protecting public health from asbestos exposure.

Keywords: Asbestosis, Asbestos mining, Neighborhood exposure, Naturally occurring asbestos (NOA)

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