Læknablaðið - 15.03.1980, Blaðsíða 6

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LÆKNABLADID
usually about 0.3 micrometer in diameter and
up to several hundred micrometer long. Air-
borne particles are inspired and behave ap-
proximately like spheres of the minimum
dimension (0.3 p). Besides, magnesium and
silica, iron, manganese, aluminum, calcium and
potassium are frequently components.
Current health concerns with asbestos in
the USA center upon shipyard workers, over
5 million were exposed family members.
There are numerous vehicle brake workers
and others engaged in repair of frictionally
deteriorated asbestos which means short fi-
bers which appear to cause disease but not to
give rise to asbestos bodies. Demolition, on
board ship, in power stations and other sites
usually enclosed in which oxidized deteriora-
ted asbestos is ripped out appears to be a
particularly heavy form exposure so that even
a few weeks may produce disease 30 years
later. Use of asbestos as texture or fire
resistent coatings of internal walls of schools
and public buildings has exposed many inno-
cent people with a hazard which is real but diffi-
cult to assess quantitatively. Finally, consum-
er products such as electric hair dryers have
been shown to contain asbestos in their own
air dispersal system producing another hazard
to the extent of which is difficult to measure.
It is clear that asbestos exposure must be
prevented in order to restrict the liability for
the tragic neoplastic diseases, lung cancer and
mesothelioma of pleura and peritoneum. It is
inexcusable to employ asbestos in any use in
which a substitute is possible. Substitution
would reduce exposure to about 10% of the
immediate levels. Asbestos workers and
others sharing the work place air must not
smoke cigarettes. Great care including vacu-
um air removal and air supply hoods can
greatly reduce exposure in essential uses.
Furthermore, wet demolition and enclosed
handling reduce markedly the asbestos which
becomes airborne in the work place. Only an
infornted work force, a vigilant and informed
ntedical profession and concerned and consci-
entious employers can reduce this modern day
plague so that mesothelioma and lung cancer
fade from our list of tragic and preventable
diseases.
KAYE H. KILBURN er fæddur í Utah,
Bandaríkjunum árið 1931. Hann lauk lækna-
prófil frá University of Utah árið 1954 og
stundaði framhaldsnám í lyflækningum,
meinafræði, hjarta- og lungnasjúkdómum
við University of Utah, Case Western
Reserve University í Cleveland, Duke Uni-
versity í Durham og var loks Research
Fellow í hjartasjúkdómum hjá Dr. Paul
Wood við Brompton Hospital í London.
Við heimkomuna 1960 setti hann upp
hjartapræðingu við Washington University
í St. Louis og veitti jafnframt forstöðu
Cardiopulmonary Division við Barnes Hos-
pital. Hann fluttist til Duke University í
Norður-Karólínu 1962 og varð þá yfirma-
ður lyflækningadeildar V. A. Hospital í
Durham, sem er annar aðal kennsluspítali
Duke University. Árið 1968 setti hann á fót
og veitti forstöðu Division of Environmen-
tal Medicine við Duke University og varð
Professor of Medicine 1969.
Árið 1973 fluttist hann til University of
Missouri í Coluntbia, par sem hann setti á
stofn Division of Pulmonary and Environ-
mental Medicine. Þaðan fluttist hann árið
1977 til New York, par sem hann tók við
núverandi stöðu sinni sent Professor of
Medicine og Professor of Community
Medicine, við Mount Sinai School of Medi-
cine og er jafnframt forstöðumaður lung-
nadeildar Bronx V. A. Hospital.
Dr. Kilburn hefur fengist mikið við
rannsóknir á atvinnusjúkdómum lungna og
ritað fjölda greina og bókarkafla. Hann
hefur setið í ritstjórn Anterican Journal of
Physiology, Environmental Research og
Archives of Environmental Health, og er
nú ritstjóri hins síðast nefnda tímarits.