Open AccessAsbestos in drinking water: a Canadian view.
Author(s) -
Peter Toft,
M.E. Meek
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
environmental health perspectives
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.257
H-Index - 282
eISSN - 1552-9924
pISSN - 0091-6765
DOI - 10.1289/ehp.8353177
Subject(s) - asbestos , chrysotile , environmental health , water supply , ingestion , public health , asbestos fibers , environmental science , medicine , environmental protection , environmental engineering , pathology , materials science , metallurgy , endocrinology
For several years now, public health professionals have been faced with evaluating the potential hazards associated with the ingestion of asbestos in food and drinking water. In Canada, this is a subject of particular concern, because of the widespread occurrence of chrysotile asbestos in drinking water supplies. The results of available Canadian monitoring and epidemiologic studies of asbestos in drinking water are reviewed and discussed in light of other published work. It is concluded that the risk to health associated with the ingestion of asbestos, at the levels found in municipal drinking water supplies, is so small that it cannot be detected by currently available epidemiologic techniques.