Fluoro-edenite

Synonyms

Fluor edenite; fluoredenite; [IARC Monograph 111]

Category

Fibrogenic Dusts

Description

"Acicular – a mineral comprised of fine needle-like crystals; prismatic – a crystal with one dimension markedly longer than the other two; asbestiform – a mineral that is fibrous and composed of separable fibres"; [IARC Monograph 111]

Sources/Uses

"Fluoro-edenite occurs in the volcanic products of the Monte Calvario locality of Biancavilla on the flanks of Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, and is found in the cavities of benmoreitic lava metasomatized by hot fluids rich in fluorine. . . . Fluoro-edenite is found in materials extracted from the Il Calvario quarry that are used in the local building industry (walls, plaster, mortar, and concrete) and in soil used to pave roads, plazas, and other areas. The quarry has been mined since at least the 1950s, with a peak in production around the 1960s and 1970s, and fibrous amphiboles have also been found outside the quarry around Biancavilla." [IARC Monograph 111]

Comments

"The available epidemiological evidence on the risk of cancer in humans associated with exposure to fibres composed of fluoro-edenite resulted from a sequence of community studies of the mortality from and incidence of pleural mesothelioma, and from two case series of individual patients with mesothelioma, all of which were conducted and reported in the same location – Biancavilla, a municipality of about 20 000 inhabitants situated in a rural setting on the slopes of the Mount Etna volcano in Sicily, Italy. . . . There is sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole. Fluoro-edenite fibrous amphibole causes mesothelioma." [IARC Monograph 111] Reason for exclusion from occupational carcinogens: "Evaluation did not include occupational epidemiology data." [PMID 29769352]

Reference Link #1

Biomedical References

Yes

Established

Other Information

No other related information on this agent was found.