Laboratory rodents were exposed to one of three mineralogical types of asbestos dust amosite, crocidolite, or chrysotile. Inhalation exposures were accompalished in chambers where ballmilled specimens of these dusts were disseminated for 4 hours daily, 4 days weekly. Additional animals were injected with these dusts intratracheally, intrapleurally, or intraperitoneally. Histopathologic studies showed a fibrotic reaction in all species to all three types of dusts, with amosite provoking the strongest such response especially in guinea pigs. Two pulmonary cancers were produced in rats exposed to the inhalation of crocidolite. Local injection into the pleural or peritoneal cavities caused 5 mesotheliomas in rats after chrysotile treatment and 6 meotheliomas in rats and rabbits after crocidolite treatment. Guinea pigs and hamsters developed no tumors in this experiment, and with the dose used, there were no tumors in any species in the amosite group.
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