Amphibole asbestos as a public health risk in 2025: Autoimmune disease

Amphibole asbestos as a public health risk in 2025: Autoimmune disease Despite efforts to minimize exposure, deaths from asbestos-related diseases remain high. A recent review emphasized the importance of evaluating different mineral groups and pointed out that exposure to amphibole asbestos is linked to higher rates of autoimmune diseases. Jean C. Pfau and Brenda J. Buck discuss the urgent need to address this public health risk more effectively. Despite decades of work to reduce asbestos exposure, tens of thousands of people die globally from asbestos-related diseases, including 30,000 deaths from mesothelioma. (1) Death rates from mesothelioma have remained fairly constant since 1999, both globally and in most countries, after having risen dramatically during the decades when asbestos exposures were not regulated. (2) In the United States, mesothelioma deaths were found to be disproportionately high. Because mesothelioma occurs specifically with exposure to asbestos and similar minerals, this constancy suggests that, despite current regulations, asbestos exposures continue to occur at a rate that poses a serious public health problem. In addition, the rates of asbestos-caused cancers of the trachea, bronchus, and lung in the United States are twice that of the global average during the same period. (2) Lastly, systemic autoimmune diseases (SAID) are on the rise globally, with evidence that much of that rise is due to environmental factors, including asbestos. (3,5)