[Mesotheliomas among mechanics of the railways in Italy: a current problem].

Asbestos has been used on rolling stock of the Italian Railways since the 1940's. From the 1950's to the 1970's it was used on a massive scale for the insulation of passenger carriages (up to more than 800 kg per carriage). About 10 years ago, a programme was began to remove asbestos from rolling stock and replace it with glass fibre. We must consider as exposed to the carcinogenic effects of asbestos all mechanics who, during the past years, worked at the Major Repair Workshops (MRW), at the Locomotive Depots (LD) of the State Railways, or in other state or private factories where railway rolling stock insulated with asbestos was built, checked, repaired or demolished, or where asbestos removal operations took place. It has been estimated that the total number of mechanics potentially exposed to asbestos since 1950 in the MRWs alone amounts to more than 25,000. There are about 750 workers presently employed at the Bologna MRW and it has been estimated that the entire cohort of this MRW from the beginning of the 1950's includes about 3,000 people (in excess). In 1986 the Bologna Institute of Oncology reported 6 cases of pleural mesothelioma at the Bologna MRW and 1 at the Rimini MRW. This was the first report of pleural mesotheliomas among railway mechanics in Italy. From 1986 up to the present, other cases of pleural mesothelioma have been recorded among mechanics working on railway rolling stock in the MRW's and in the LD's of the State Railways and in other factories.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)