Winemaker’s Mesothelioma Blamed on Asbestos Filter
Italian researchers are reporting the first case of mesothelioma in a person whose only known exposure to asbestos was in the winemaking business. The man worked for an Italian winemaker from 1960 to 1988. According to the authors of the new report, the winemaker treated the wine for impurities using a filter made of asbestos. As authors Alessandro Nemo and Stefano Silvestri of Florence’s Institute for Study and Prevention of Cancer explain, “The filter was created by dispersing in the wine asbestos fibers followed by diatomite while the wine was circulating several times and clogging a prefilter made of a dense stainless steel net.” Drs. Nemo and Silvestri report that the asbestos exposure which probably triggered the man’s mesothelioma could…