Brook, Martin S. and Ram, Arishma R. and Patel, Janki and Kaith, Ranjana and Kah, Melanie and Hamilton, Ayrton (2024) Naturally Occurring Mineral Fibres as Environmental Hazards: Examples from the South-West Pacific. UNSPECIFIED.
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
Six asbestos minerals are regulated globally, and the extraction, processing and use of those asbestos minerals in a range of industrial products (vehicle brake pads, building products etc) led to a well-known cancer pandemic over the last century. Additionally, exposure to natural-occurring asbestos (NOA) minerals and other elongated mineral particle (EMPs) fibres can pose health risks.
Weathering processes and anthropogenic activities (agriculture, road grading, construction, mining etc) can disturb naturally-occurring mineral fibres, liberating particles into the air, which are then inhaled. This can lead to malignant mesothelioma, a rare lung cancer, usually linked to inhalation of fibres from processed asbestos products. However, in recent years, health impacts from inhalation of NOA and other mineral EMPs, has emerged.
Studies conducted in New Caledonia have highlighted a high incidence of malignant mesothelioma, potentially due to environmental exposure of non-regulated antigorite, a serpentine similar to chrysotile asbestos. Other recent work has identified erionite fibres in Fiji. Erionite is a naturally-occurring zeolite mineral, and in Turkey, inhalation of erionite fibres from rocks and soils caused a mortality rate of ~50% in some villages. In New Zealand, research is now ongoing into erionite distribution and transport pathways in rock, soil, and air.
| Item Type: | Other |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | Q Science > QE Geology |
| Divisions: | School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Ocean and Natural Sciences (SAGEONS) |
| Depositing User: | Arishma Ram |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Apr 2025 22:20 |
| Last Modified: | 10 Apr 2025 22:20 |
| URI: | https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/14917 |
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