Common problems in asbestos-related pulmonary diseases.

Exposure to asbestos is an important public health hazard in all industrialized societies. Although the pulmonary manifestations of prolonged asbestos fiber exposure are well known, there is considerable disagreement over specific clinical features and employment policies. Three of these controversies are the following: a) Can lung cancer be ascribed to asbestos exposure in subjects who lack evidence of asbestosis? b) Is there any clinical significance to benign asbestos pleural changes? c) Is it advisable to change jobs when evidence of asbestosis or benign pleural changes develop? The purpose of this presentation is to help develop a suitable public policy for Israel. Such a policy would have clinical importance as well as economic, legal, and social consequences for the individual and society as a whole.