Although glass wool fibers resemble asbestos fibers on a microscopic level, thats where the similarity ends. I personally find fiberglass dust extremely unpleasant, there is apparently no danger of lung cancer of any kind including mesothelioma, the rare kind of lung cancer common to asbestos workers.
Here is are some recent scientific literature and abstracts. If anyone wants copies of these papers you can get them from the
National Library of Medicine or PM me if that doesn't work for you. The bottom line is, if you want to avoid lung cancer, don't smoke. Fiberglass has little, if anything, to do with it.
Marsh, G.M., J.M. Buchanich, and A.O. Youk. (2001). Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: VI. Respiratory system cancer standardized mortality ratios adjusted for the confounding effect of cigarette smoking. J Occup Environ Med. 43:803-808.
To date, the US cohort study of man-made vitreous fiber workers has provided no consistent evidence of a relationship between man-made vitreous fiber exposure and mortality from malignant or non-malignant respiratory disease. Nevertheless, there have been small, overall excesses in respiratory system cancer (RSC) among workers from the fiberglass and rock/slag wool production plants included in the study that were unexplained by estimated worker exposures to respirable fiber or other agents present in the plants. The present investigation was designed to provide a quantitative estimate of the extent to which the overall excess in RSC mortality observed at the total cohort level among male fiberglass and rock/slag wool workers is a result of the positive confounding effects of cigarette smoking. Because cigarette-smoking data were neither available nor obtainable at the individual level for all members of the fiberglass and rock/slag wool cohorts, we used the "indirect" method to adjust RSC standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) at the group (cohort and plant) level.
Our adjustment suggested that cigarette smoking accounts for all of the 7% and 24% excesses in RSC observed, respectively, for the male fiberglass and rock/slag wool cohorts in the latest mortality updates. The same conclusion was reached regardless of which of several alternative formulations were used to adjust local rate-based RSC SMRs. We found that our smoking adjustments were robust with respect to several alternative characterizations and (with the exception of one fiberglass plant) produced adjusted RSC SMRs that were lower than their unadjusted counterparts. Further, all statistically significantly elevated unadjusted SMRs were reduced to not statistically significant levels. These results reaffirm that RSC SMRs based on US and local rates must take into account the potential confounding effects of cigarette smoking. They also suggest that the use of local county mortality rate-based SMRs may not help to adjust for cigarette smoking to the degree suggested by some investigators.
Marsh, G.M., M.J. Gula, A.O. Youk, et al. (2001). Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: II. Mortality from mesothelioma. J Occup Environ Med. 43:757-766.
As part of our ongoing mortality surveillance program for the US man-made vitreous fiber (MMVF) industry, we examined mortality from malignant mesothelioma using data from our 1989 follow-up of 3478 rock/slag wool workers and our 1992 follow-up of 32,110 fiberglass workers...
We conclude that the overall mortality risk from malignant mesothelioma does not seem to be elevated in the US MMVF cohort.
Marsh, G.M., A.O. Youk, R.A. Stone, et al. (2001). Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: I. 1992 fiberglass cohort follow-up: initial findings. J Occup Environ Med. 43:741-756.
This 1986 to 1992 update and expansion of an earlier historical cohort study examined the 1946 to 1992 mortality experience of 32,110 workers employed for 1 year or more during 1945 to 1978 at any of 10 US fiberglass (FG) manufacturing plants. Included are (1) a new historical exposure reconstruction for respirable glass fibers and several co-exposures (arsenic, asbestos, asphalt, epoxy, formaldehyde, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, phenolics, silica, styrene, and urea); and (2) a nested, matched case-control study of 631 respiratory system cancer (RSC) deaths in male workers during 1970 to 1992 with interview data on tobacco smoking history.
Our findings to date from external comparisons based on standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) in the cohort study provide no evidence of excess mortality risk from all causes combined, all cancers combined, and non-malignant respiratory disease. Also, excluding RSC, we observed no evidence of excess mortality risk from any of the other cause-of-death categories considered....
Shannon, H., A. Muir, T. Haines, and D. Verma. (2005). Mortality and cancer incidence in Ontario glass fiber workers. Occup Med (Lond). 55:528-534.
BACKGROUND: In a previous cohort study of glass fiber manufacturing, we found a significant increase in lung cancer. This study extends the follow-up period. METHODS: We conducted a historical prospective study of 2557 men employed in producing glass wool. We obtained work histories, causes and dates of death, and date and site of cancer diagnoses. We computed standardized mortality and incidence ratios (SMR, SIR). RESULTS: The overall SMR for lung cancer was 163 (95% CI = 118-221). The SMR did not vary consistently by duration of employment and time since first employment. However, plant workers with >20 years' employment and >40 years since first exposure had an SMR for lung cancer of 282 (95% CI = 113-582). The SMR dropped with later date of first exposure, but the trend was non-significant. There was an unexpected overall increase in kidney cancer incidence. DISCUSSION: The increase in lung cancer is greater than in other cohorts of glass fiber workers. Since exposure data are lacking from the early years of the plant, we cannot state if the excess was due to glass fibers, other work exposures or other reasons.
Stone, R.A., A.O. Youk, G.M. Marsh, et al. (2001). Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: IV. Quantitative exposure-response analysis of the nested case-control study of respiratory system cancer. J Occup Environ Med. 43:779-792.
As part of the 1992 update of an historical cohort study of 32,110 workers employed for at least 1 year in any of 10 US fiberglass manufacturing plants, a nested case-control study was done in which data on tobacco smoking were obtained for 631 male case subjects with respiratory system cancer (RSC) and 570 control subjects matched on age and year of birth. In this more extensive analysis of the nested case-control data, we provide a detailed assessment of the most prominent findings from the initial report. We expand the scope of the analysis to consider quantitative measures of exposure to respirable fibers (RFib), formaldehyde (FOR), and silica (Sil) and consider these and other exposures together in the same model. We investigate the functional form of possible exposure-response relationships between RSC risk, RFib, and FOR. In addition, we address the statistical issues of collinearity, effect modification, and potential confounding by coexposures. All analyses are adjusted for smoking. Neither measure of exposure to RFib (average intensity of exposure or cumulative exposure) was statistically significantly associated with RSC risk in any of the hundreds of fractional polynomial models considered. This more extensive analysis has substantiated our initial finding of no apparent exposure-response relationship between RSC risk and either cumulative or average intensity of exposure to RFib at the levels experienced by these workers. This study provides some evidence of increased RSC risk among workers at the higher observed levels of average intensity of exposure to FOR and/or Sil. No positive associations were identified between RSC risk and any of the other exposures considered in this case-control study.
Stone, R.A., A.O. Youk, G.M. Marsh, et al. (2004). Historical cohort study of U.S. man-made vitreous fiber production workers IX: summary of 1992 mortality follow up and analysis of respiratory system cancer among female workers. J Occup Environ Med. 46:55-67.
We report the 1946-1992 mortality experience of 4008 females employed in any of 10 U.S. fiberglass manufacturing plants between 1945 and 1978 relative to external population rates...
No statistically significantly elevated standardized mortality ratios were observed for all-cause mortality (930 deaths), any of the 25 nonmalignant causes considered, all malignant neoplasms (266 deaths), or any of the 27 malignant causes considered....
Youk, A.O., G.M. Marsh, R.A. Stone, et al. (2001). Historical cohort study of US man-made vitreous fiber production workers: III. Analysis of exposure-weighted measures of respirable fibers and formaldehyde in the nested case-control study of respiratory system cancer. J Occup Environ Med. 43:767-778.
The most recent findings of our nested case-control study of respiratory system cancer (RSC) among male fiberglass workers showed some evidence of elevated RSC risk associated with non-baseline levels of average intensity of exposure (AIE) to respirable fibers (RFib).
When adjusted for smoking, this was not statistically significant, and no trend was apparent with increasing levels of exposure. Similar findings for RSC were noted for both cumulative exposure (***) and AIE to formaldehyde (FOR). In this reanalysis of our nested case-control study, we explored a possible exposure-response relationship between RSC and exposure to RFib or FOR using exposure weighting as an alternative characterization of exposure...
