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Irving J. Selikoff, MD; E. Cuyler Hammond, ScD; Jacob Churg, MD

JAMA. 1968;204(2):106-112.

Abstract
Asbestos insulation workers, as a group, have a high risk of dying of bronchogenic carcinoma (about seven or eight times expected). We have observed 370 such workmen from Jan 1, 1963 to April 30, 1967. Our findings indicate that asbestos exposure alone is not the entire explanation. Of 87 noncigarette smokers, none died of bronchogenic carcinoma. Of 283 workmen with a history of regular cigarette smoking, 24 died of bronchogenic carcinoma, although only three were expected to die of this disease. Calculations suggest that asbestos workers who smoke have about 92 times the risk of dying of bronchogenic carcinoma as men who neither work with asbestos nor smoke cigarettes. We conclude that asbestos exposure should be minimized, that asbestos workers who do not smoke should never start, and that those now smoking should stop immediately.

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Community Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine (Drs. Selikoff and Churg), and the Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, American Cancer Society (Dr. Hammond), New York.

Footnotes
Read before a joint meeting of the Section on Diseases of the Chest with the Section on Preventive Medicine and the American College of Chest Physicians at the 116th annual convention of the American Medical Association, Atlantic City, NJ, June 19, 1967.

Reprint requests to Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 100th Street and Fifth Avenue. New York 10029 (Dr. Selikoff).

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