RE: Mesothelioma and lung tumors attributable to asbestos among petroleum workers. Am. J. Ind. Med. 2000. 37:275-282. I. Reply to Tsai et al.'s letter to the editor and new evidence

We recently conducted a re-analysis [Gennaro et al. 2000] of two independent studies among oil refineries workers: an Italian cohort study [Gennaro et al., 1994,1995] and a Canadian case-control study [Finkelstein, 1996]. In the re-analysis we reported that maintenance workers (MW) experienced an asbestos-attributable risk (AR) of 96-100% for mesothelioma; the same subgroup of workers showed an asbestos AR for lung cancer of 49.2 (95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 26.4-72.4) in the Italian cohort study and an AR of 42.2 (95% CI=10.8-82.6) in the Canadian study. White collar workers (WCW), likely unexposed to asbestos, were considered the internal referent population in the Italian cohort study, while other workers were the comparison group in the Canadian study.