SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 20 December 2021
STP163220200076

Comparing Historical and Recent Accelerated Concerns Regarding Asbestos in Talc

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Recent findings of asbestos in talc and talcum-based products have blossomed into an apparent blitz of new information and political saber-rattling, including special meetings sponsored by regulatory bodies such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), congressional subcommittee meetings in Washington, DC, and even international government meetings and forums throughout Europe and beyond. The relationship between the asbestos-forming minerals and talc, however, has been well recognized in the mineralogic community for more than 150 years. In fact, concern over asbestos in talc products rode close on the heels of some of the first testing proving the negative human health effects of asbestos exposure (e.g., Mount Sinai), with asbestos being found in consumer talcum products in the 1960s, 1970s, and sporadically over the past 50 years. Unfortunately, we were never able to codify a method to ensure that asbestos fibers, which causation experts inform us poses a real danger, are absent from talc and talc-based products. This paper documents what lessons we have learned, identifies what works and what does not work in the laboratory, and hopefully recognizes our mistakes in the hopes that, this time, we can harness the increased awareness to pave a road to a better system and avoid the mistakes and omissions of the past. Along with more familiar air, dust, water, and bulk methods, more arcane techniques, such as Addison-Davies reduction and Blount liquid separation (i.e., heavy liquid separation), shall be discussed as to their effectiveness to accurately determine tremolite-actinolite, anthophyllite, other amphiboles, and serpentine asbestos occurrence in sheet silicate mineral resources, such as talc.

Author Information

Fitzgerald, Sean, M.
FACTS Pllc., Durham, NC, US
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Pages: 399–426
DOI: 10.1520/STP163220200076
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-7711-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-7710-9