Journal
ARCHIVES OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Volume 58, Issue 4, Pages 229-232Publisher
HELDREF PUBLICATIONS
DOI: 10.3200/AEOH.58.4.229-232
Keywords
amphibole; environmental exposure; fluoro-edenite; Italy; mesothelioma
Ask authors/readers for more resources
A cluster of deaths from pleural mesothelioma was previously reported for Biancavilla, Italy, a city in eastern Sicily. An environmental survey suggested that the stone quarries located southeast of the city might be a source of asbestos exposure. The materials extracted from the quarries, used widely in the local building industry, contain large quantities of a fibrous amphibole that was initially referred to as an anomalous intermediate phase of sodium- and fluorine-rich tremolite-actinolite. A subsequent crystal chemistry investigation identified the mineral as fluoro-edenite, a new end-member of the edenite --> fluoro-edenite series. The material is very similar in morphology and composition to the minerals of the tremolite-actinolite series. To the authors' knowledge, fluoro-edenite becomes the 3rd mineral fiber (along with erionite and winchite), not yet classified as asbestos, with a demonstrable mesotheliomatogenous action in humans.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available