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Mesothelioma among vehicle mechanics: a controversy?
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  • Published on: 12 April 2022
    Malignant Mesothelioma Among Vehicle Mechanics

    Hessel(1) published an editorial concerning mesothelioma among vehicle mechanics and concluded that ‘with nearly two dozen studies of mesothelioma among vehicle mechanics and no evidence of increased risk, it would appear obvious that vehicle mechanics as an occupational group, are not at increased risk of mesothelioma.’ In my opinion Hessel relies too heavily upon epidemiology for his conclusions. Epidemiology is important if studies reliably address the question at issue, but published epidemiologic studies are generally not helpful to the evaluation of risk among vehicle mechanics. Few were designed to be studies of mesothelioma in mechanics. Most are general studies of the disease Mesothelioma in which some of the subjects happened to be mechanics. Since they were not designed to be studies of vehicle mechanics, none of the information necessary for a study of risk, such as the numbers of brake jobs performed, the use of compressed air, sanding or grinding, was collected. Not a single one of the studies had information adequate to compute a quantitative exposure estimate for any of the subjects. Misclassification of exposures will mask risk among those truly exposed(2,3).
    Hessel suggests that the paper in Thorax by Thomsen (4) supports his opinion. The aim of that paper was to compare risk among men in a cohort of vehicle mechanics with a comparison cohort of men not occupationally exposed to asbestos. When studying risk in a population exposed to a toxic subs...

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    Conflict of Interest:
    The author has worked as a consultant to attorneys representing plaintiffs in asbestos litigation.