Clinical and radiological study in sepiolite workers

Radiological findings were evaluated on a mass survey (70 mm films) in four villages where mining and processing of sepiolite have occurred for more than 100 yr, together with a clinical and radiological study in 63 sepiolite trimming workers in Eskisehir, Turkey. Mineral fiber-related pleural diseases were not detected in those people who were exposed to sepiolite dust. Although pulmonary fibrosis was encountered in 10 of 63 workers, no relationship between pulmonary fibrosis and sepiolite inhalation could be established. In contrast, all fibrotic patients were smokers and came from dusty rural regions where tremolite (asbestos) and zeolites are present. Three of them had also worked in dusty fields.