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The Third International \ orkshop on "The in Vitro Effects of
Mineral Dusts" was held on October 1 - 4, 1984 in Schluchsee, Black
Forest, Federal Republic of Germany. In six sessions, 93
participants from 14 countries (USA 32, France 17, United Kingdom
12, FRG 11, Canada 9, Belgium 3, Hungary 1, Italy 2, India 1,
Nether lands 1, Norway 1, Poland 1, Portugal 1, Turkey 1) treated
and discussed the following subjects: - Significance of the
physico-chemical properties of inhalable mineral dusts (mine dusts,
asbestos, Man-Made Mineral Fibres - MMMF). - Cellular effects of
inhalable mineral dusts with special regard to target ce 11 s. -
Immune response and immune toxicity. - Carcinogenicity and
interrelated genotoxic and non-genotoxic effects. - Effect of cell
metabolism in combination with inflammation and fibrogenesis. -
Significance and credibility of in vitro test systems. For the
pathogenesis of biological effects and diseases caused by inhalable
mineral dusts a number of factors may be significant such as: -
Type of dust - Dose of dust - Size and shape of dust particles, and
especially - Surface properties of dust particles, which inter alia
determine the - sorption properties, e.g. for environmental
substances."
Considerable progress in understanding how inhaled minerals cause
disease in man has been made in the past two decades. This is
mostly due to the great amount of human, animal and cell
multidisciplinary studies carried out on silica, asbestos and
asbestiforms all around the world. Two previous NATO Workshops on
"In Vitro Effects of Mineral Dusts on Cells", have been published
in the NATO ASI Series (1985 and 1989). The present NATO-INSERM
workshop has focused specifically on a group of silicates, named
phyllosilicates because of their sheet structure, of which health
related effects have been poorly and sporadically investigated.
These silicates are presently largely used as filling materials
(kaolin, talc, chlorite), insulating materials (vermiculite,
micas), adsorbants (sepiolite, attapulgite) and in many other
industrial applications. The estimated annual world production is
presently 5.5 million tons of talc (1.8 million for Europe) and
only in the United Kingdom about 3.5 million tons of kaolin.
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