Lungs of workers exposed to fiber glass. A study of their pathologic changes and their dust content.

Abstract

Long-term exposure to the dust of fiber glass used for insulation causes no demonstrable gross or microscopic pulmonary damage. This conclusion is based on the results of a postmortem study of the lungs of 20 fiber glass workers, who had had exposures to the dust of fibrous glass which ranged from slight to severe and for periods which ranged from 16 to 32 years, and a comparison of this study’s results with those obtained in a similar study of the lungs of 26 urban dwellers of both sexes, who presumably had not been exposed occupationally to fibrous glass dust, which showed that the average total amount of dust, the average total number of fibers per gram of dry lung, and the average dimensions of the fibers found in the lungs were not significantly different.