The use of asbestos-cement pipe for public water supply and the incidence of cancer in selected communities in Utah.

We tested the hypothesis that there is an association between the use of asbestos-cement piping for drinking water supplies and the incidence of gastrointestinal and kidney cancer. Cancer incidence in 14 Utah communities that had used predominantly asbestos-cement piping for transporting their drinking water supplies for 20 years or more were compared to 27 Utah communities that had never used asbestos-cement piping. Cancer incidence was tabulated for 11 cancer sites for the years 1967-1976. Increased Standard Incidence Ratios (SIRs) were found for cancer of the kidney in men (SIR 192) and leukemia (a control site) in women (SIR 203). No increased SIRs were found for the opposite sex at these sites or for the other gastrointestinal sites singly or in combination. There was no increase in age-adjusted cancer incidence for the 11 sites in 4 of the 14 study communities that had used asbestos-cement piping for 30 years or more. Limitations of the study were that the water supplies were nonaggressive, and leaching from the pipes was minimal if at all. Furthermore, the latent period for observation was very short, suggesting that these results should be considered preliminary.