How likely are synthetic vitreous fibers to cause cancer?
You are unlikely to develop cancer from breathing in air with small amounts of synthetic vitreous fibers. Studies of workers from factories that make synthetic vitreous fibers have not found increased rates of lung cancer or cancer of the pleura, called mesothelioma. Animals exposed for life to air containing refractory ceramic fibers showed increased rates of lung cancer and mesothelioma, but animals exposed to insulation glass wools and stone wools did not. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) determined that insulation glass wool, stone wool, and slag wool, and continuous filament glass are not classifiable as to carcinogenicity to humans because of the inadequate evidence of carcinogenicity in humans and the relatively low biopersistence of these materials. IARC determined that refractory ceramic fibers are possibly carcinogenic to humans because of their relatively high biopersistence and the findings of cancer in animals that repeatedly breathed in high levels o
