Wollastonite toxicity: an update

Abstract

This review updates earlier work addressing the epidemiology and toxicity of wollastonite. Earlier chronic animal bioassay and human mortality data were inadequate (IARC term) or negative and no new studies of these types have been published. Wollastonite has been determined to have low biopersistence in both in vivo and in vitro studies, which probably accounts for its relative lack of toxicity. Earlier morbidity studies of mining/mineral processing facilities in Finland and New York State indicated that exposure to wollastonite might result in pleural plaques (Finland) or decrements in certain measures of lung function (New York). More recent analysis of data from an ongoing health surveillance program at one facility (New York) indicates that there are no pleural plaques or interstitial lung disease or decrements in lung function among never smokers or former smokers occupationally exposed to wollastonite. This result probably reflects continued reduction in exposures as part of an ongoing product stewardship program at this facility and suggests that wollastonite has relatively low toxicity as currently managed.

• Bioceramics
• biocompatibility
• biopersistence
• epidemiology
• health surveillance
• occupational exposure
• toxicity
• wollastonite

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the constructive comments of the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript in draft. Their comments were useful and improved the quality of this work.

Notes

¹ Beneficiation: crushing and separating ore into valuable substances or waste by any of a variety of techniques.

² High intensity magnetic separation: A process for separating weakly magnetic (paramagnetic) materials, including garnet and diopside from wollastonite (non-magnetic).

³ Mining: gangue is the unusable or unsalable material that surrounds, or is closely mixed with, a wanted mineral in an ore deposit. Gangue is removed from the ore by various processing (also called beneficiation) steps. Gangue differs from overburden, which is the waste rock or materials overlying an ore or mineral body that are displaced during mining without being processed.