From field analysis to nanostructural investigation: A multidisciplinary approach to describe natural occurrence of asbestos in view of hazard assessment

Jasmine R Petriglieri; Luca Barale; Cecilia Viti; Paolo Ballirano; Elena Belluso; Maria R Bruno; Antonella Campopiano; Annapaola Cannizzaro; Marzia Fantauzzi; Flaminia Gianchiglia; Maria R Montereali; Elisa Nardi; Angelo Olori; Fabrizio Piana; Maura Tomatis; Antonella Rossi; Henrik Skogby; Alessandro Pacella; Francesco Turci

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131754

From field analysis to nanostructural investigation: A multidisciplinary approach to describe natural occurrence of asbestos in view of hazard assessment

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Sep 5:457:131754. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131754. Epub 2023 Jun 1.

Authors

Jasmine R Petriglieri¹, Luca Barale², Cecilia Viti³, Paolo Ballirano⁴, Elena Belluso⁵, Maria R Bruno⁶, Antonella Campopiano⁷, Annapaola Cannizzaro⁷, Marzia Fantauzzi⁸, Flaminia Gianchiglia⁹, Maria R Montereali¹⁰, Elisa Nardi¹¹, Angelo Olori⁷, Fabrizio Piana², Maura Tomatis¹², Antonella Rossi⁸, Henrik Skogby¹³, Alessandro Pacella¹⁴, Francesco Turci¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Torino, Italy.
² "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Torino, Italy.
³ University of Siena, Department of Physical Sciences, Earth and Environment, Via Laterina 8, I-53100 Siena, Italy.
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy; Rectoral Laboratory Fibres and Inorganic Particulate, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy.
⁵ "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Department of Earth Sciences, University of Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
⁶ Department of Medicine, Epidemiology, Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), Lamezia Terme, Italy.
⁷ Department of Medicine, Epidemiology, Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL), via Fontana Candida 1, 00078 Monte Porzio Catone, Rome, Italy.
⁸ Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences, INSTM Research Unit, University of Cagliari, I-09042 Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy.
⁹ Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy.
¹⁰ Italian National Agency for New Technologies, ENEA, Casaccia Research Centre, via Anguillarese 301, I-00123 S. Maria di Galeria, Roma, Italy.
¹¹ Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, ISPRA, via Vitaliano Brancati 48, 00144 Roma, Italy.
¹² "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Department of Chemistry, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7, I-10125 Torino, Italy.
¹³ Swedish Museum of Natural History, Department of Geosciences, Box 50007, SE-104 05 Stockholm, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, I-00185 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.pacella@uniroma1.it.
¹⁵ "G. Scansetti" Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 9, I-10125 Torino, Italy; Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, Torino, Italy; Department of Chemistry, University of Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 7, I-10125 Torino, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.turci@unito.it.

PMID: 37276694
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.131754

Abstract

The environmental impact of natural occurrences of asbestos (NOA) and asbestos-like minerals is a growing concern for environmental protection agencies. The lack of shared sampling and analytical procedures hinders effectively addressing this issue. To investigate the hazard posed by NOA, a multidisciplinary approach that encompasses geology, mineralogy, chemistry, and toxicology is proposed and demonstrated here, on a natural occurrence of antigorite from a site in Varenna Valley, Italy. Antigorite is, together with chrysotile asbestos, one of the serpentine polymorphs and its toxicological profile is still under debate. We described field and petrographic analyses required to sample a vein and to evaluate the NOA-hazard. A combination of standardized mechanical stress and automated morphometrical analyses on milled samples allowed to quantify the asbestos-like morphology. The low congruent solubility in acidic simulated body fluid, together with the toxicity-relevant surface reactivity due to iron speciation, signalled a bio-activity similar or even greater to that of chrysotile. Structural information on the genetic mechanism of antigorite asbestos-like fibres in nature were provided. Overall, the NOA site was reported to contain veins of asbestos-like antigorite and should be regarded as source of potentially toxic fibres during hazard assessment procedure.

Keywords: Asbestos; Elongate mineral fibre; Fibrous antigorite; Hazard assessment; NOA hazard.