In view of diseases associated with inhalation of
asbestos fibers, interest attaches to the question of whether risks are presented by ingestion of
asbestos or mineralogically related fibrous-shaped particles reported in
drinking water supplies. Experimental animals (hamsters) were maintained on filtered
drinking water with and without addition of
mineral particles. A peritoneal
mesothelioma, pulmonary
carcinoma and two early
squamous cell carcinomas of the forestomach were found in hamsters so exposed to a preparation of
amosite asbestos. These
tumors could not be specifically attributed to
amosite, but they show that hamsters of the strain used were capable of developing
tumors of particular interest in this experiment. No deleterious health effects and no
tumors related to treatment were found in hamsters exposed to milled
taconite ore containing fibrous-shaped particles of
cummingtonite/grunerite, mineralogically related to
amosite but in shorter lengths more comparable in size to fibers associated with
drinking water supplies.