Can asbestos be dangerous to health if it comes into contact with something that is ingested orally? Here is the question posed by ANSES. Of course, it’s not about eating asbestos, the idea seems absurd. But rather to see what impact its contact with water, for example, can have.
Because, as we know, many pipes continue to work with this material, widely used before being banned in 1997, and since recognized to be harmful to the respiratory tract, with an associated risk of lung cancer.
We think that 4% of the French public network for the distribution of water intended for human consumption (EDCH) in France is still made up of asbestos cement. Most of the time, these pipes are covered with scale, which prevents the water from coming into direct contact with the asbestos, but if the pipe is damaged, there is no zero risk.
Without certainty, a potential link with digestive cancers
Ingestion remains a mystery when it comes to asbestos. Two Italian studies were published in 2016 and 2017, they focused on the daily consumption of drinking water and the possibility of digestive cancers which could be linked to it. But they have methodological limits, notes ANSES, before looking at all the studies carried out to date on this subject.
Without absolute certainty, ANSES nevertheless specifies: “the existence of signals suggesting the possibility of an association between the ingestion of asbestos and three specific digestive cancers has been highlighted. These are cancers of the esophagus, stomach and colon“, identified in greater numbers among workers in contact with asbestos. Further epidemiological surveillance and studies need to be carried out on this issue.
Source: An initial review of the literature on the possible danger of ingesting asbestos, ANSES, 10 November 2021.
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