Mortality among employees of an ontario factory manufacturing insulation materials from amosite asbestos

The mortality of workers from an Ontario factory manufacturing amosite asbestos insulation materials under poorly controlled environmental conditions is reported here. Seven (58%) of 12 deaths among exposed workers 10 or more years after first exposure were due to malignancies; four (25%) were from lung cancer, and there were two deaths from peritoneal mesothelioma. Those dying from mesothelioma were 47 and 49 years of age. Three (25%) of 12 deaths were from respiratory disease, two were attributed to asbestosis (in men 42 and 53 years of ages), and one to pneumonia in a 54-year-old male.