Response to: 'The epidemiology of malignant mesothelioma in women: gender differences and modalities of asbestos exposure by Marinaccio et al

Marinaccio and colleagues1 compared asbestos exposures of men and women with mesothelioma in Italy and found that women were less likely to have had occupational exposures and more likely to have experienced non-occupational and familial exposures. They did not consider possible asbestos exposures arising from the use of talcum powders, an exposure common in North America, that may have been in Italy as well. Italian talc was imported from the Val Chisone region for the manufacture of consumer talcs in North America. In 1976, Rohl2 analysed 20 body and baby powders and reported that 10 contained tremolite and anthophyllite, principally asbestiform. Blount reported asbestiform tremolite contamination of a popular baby powder at a level of 0.025%.3 Gordon and colleagues reported asbestiform tremolite and anthophyllite in a popular body powder, one of those manufactured using Italian-sourced talc.4 More than 80% of the containers...

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