Dr. Irving Selikoff: Exposing Asbestos Danger

Key Facts

• Dr. Irving Selikoff presented landmark research in 1964 showing insulation workers died of cancer at alarming rates
• His work directly led to OSHA’s asbestos exposure limits, the first regulations to protect American workers
• He examined over 17,000 asbestos workers throughout his career
• Selikoff founded the Environmental Sciences Laboratory at Mount Sinai, now a leading mesothelioma research center
• The asbestos industry spent decades trying to discredit his findings while their internal documents confirmed them

In October 1964, Dr. Irving Selikoff stood before the New York Academy of Sciences and presented data that the asbestos industry had desperately hoped would never reach the public. His findings were stark: insulation workers who handled asbestos products were dying of lung cancer at seven times the expected rate. They were dying of asbestosis, a scarring lung disease, at rates that dwarfed any industrial population ever studied.

The 370 scientists and physicians in attendance understood they were witnessing a turning point. The asbestos industry understood too—and began a counter-offensive that would last decades.

Sixty years later, Selikoff’s work remains the foundation of our understanding of asbestos-related disease. The mesothelioma research centers, the OSHA regulations, the billions of dollars in compensation for victims—all trace back to a physician who refused to let corporate interests bury scientific evidence.

The Insulation Workers Study

Selikoff’s journey began in the late 1950s when he was treating patients in Paterson, New Jersey. Many of his patients worked at a local asbestos insulation plant, and he noticed an unusual pattern: they were developing lung diseases and cancers at rates that seemed impossible for random chance.

Working with colleagues Dr. Jacob Churg and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond (the latter from the American Cancer Society), Selikoff began a systematic study of insulation workers and their health outcomes. The research would eventually track over 17,000 workers across the United States and Canada.

The results, first presented in 1964 and published in subsequent papers, were devastating:

For mesothelioma specifically, Selikoff documented 63 deaths in a population where statistical models predicted fewer than one. The disparity was so extreme that it could not be explained by any factor other than occupational asbestos exposure.

The Industry’s Response

The asbestos industry was not caught off guard by Selikoff’s findings. Internal documents later revealed during litigation show that companies had known about the dangers of their products for decades.

As early as 1935, executives at Johns-Manville and Raybestos-Manhattan had exchanged letters discussing how to suppress medical evidence. “The less said about asbestos, the better off we are,” wrote one executive. They funded compliant researchers, controlled access to their workers for medical studies, and worked systematically to cast doubt on independent findings.

When Selikoff’s research became public, the industry pivoted to attack his methodology, his motives, and his character. They funded alternative studies designed to minimize the apparent risk. They lobbied against workplace regulations. They continued selling asbestos products to workers who had no idea they were handling carcinogenic materials.

But Selikoff had several advantages they could not overcome. His data was too large to dismiss. His methodology was impeccable. And most importantly, he was willing to testify—repeatedly—before Congress, regulatory agencies, and courts about what his research showed.

From Research to Regulation

Selikoff understood that scientific findings meant nothing without policy change. Beginning in the late 1960s, he became an advocate for workplace safety standards that would limit asbestos exposure.

His testimony before Congress helped build the case for the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, which created OSHA. When OSHA began establishing exposure limits for hazardous substances, asbestos was among the first regulated.

The initial OSHA standard, set in 1971, limited exposure to 12 fibers per cubic centimeter of air. Selikoff argued this was too high—and he was right. The standard was progressively lowered as evidence accumulated: to 5 f/cc in 1972, to 2 f/cc in 1976, and eventually to 0.1 f/cc in 1986.

Each reduction met fierce industry resistance. Each reduction saved lives.

The Mount Sinai Legacy

In 1966, Selikoff established the Environmental Sciences Laboratory at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. The laboratory became the world’s leading center for research into occupational and environmental diseases, training a generation of researchers who would continue his work.

Mount Sinai’s program eventually grew into what is now known as the Irving J. Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health, with facilities at multiple Mount Sinai locations. The centers continue to provide clinical care to patients with asbestos-related diseases and conduct research into prevention and treatment.

Selikoff’s approach—combining rigorous epidemiology with active policy engagement—became a model for how physicians could address public health threats. He understood that documenting harm was necessary but not sufficient. Scientists had to be willing to enter the political arena, to testify, to advocate, to face industry attacks without backing down.

The Long Latency Problem

One of Selikoff’s most important contributions was documenting the long latency period of asbestos-related diseases. His longitudinal studies showed that mesothelioma could develop 20, 30, even 40 years after initial exposure.

This finding had profound implications. It meant that workers exposed in the 1950s and 1960s might not develop cancer until the 1990s or 2000s. It meant that the full human cost of the asbestos era would not be known for decades. And it meant that millions of Americans who had been exposed—workers, their families, residents of asbestos-producing communities—were living with a risk they might not understand.

Today, approximately 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Most were exposed to asbestos before modern regulations took effect. The epidemic Selikoff predicted is still ongoing, and will continue for years as the last generations of heavily exposed workers age.

”A Tipping Point for Big Asbestos”

Historians of public health often describe the 1964 conference as a tipping point. Before Selikoff’s presentation, the asbestos industry could plausibly deny that its products posed significant risks. After, the scientific evidence was too overwhelming to ignore.

This did not stop the industry from trying. For another 25 years, asbestos companies continued fighting regulations, suppressing evidence, and marketing their products. Johns-Manville, the largest asbestos manufacturer, eventually declared bankruptcy in 1982—not because it had run out of money, but as a strategy to limit liability for the thousands of lawsuits it faced.

But Selikoff’s research could not be unlearned. It formed the basis for regulatory action, for litigation, and for public awareness. When asbestos companies were eventually forced to establish trust funds to compensate victims, the epidemiological foundation was built on decades of work that began with Selikoff’s insulation workers study.

Death and Recognition

Irving Selikoff died on May 20, 1992, at the age of 77. By then, he had received numerous honors for his work, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and the Presidential Medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service.

More significantly, he lived to see the asbestos industry held accountable in ways that would have seemed impossible when he began his research. The U.S. banned most asbestos products in the late 1980s (though some uses continued until 2024, when the EPA finalized a comprehensive ban on chrysotile asbestos). Billions of dollars flowed to victims through litigation and trust funds.

Selikoff did not accomplish this alone. He worked with colleagues, advocates, labor unions, and journalists who helped bring public attention to asbestos hazards. But his research provided the evidentiary foundation without which none of it would have been possible.

Lessons for Today

Selikoff’s story carries lessons that extend beyond asbestos. It demonstrates how corporations can suppress evidence of harm, how scientists can fight back through rigorous research and public engagement, and how public health regulation—when based on solid science—can save lives.

It also demonstrates the limits of regulation. Despite everything we know about asbestos, the mineral is still used globally. Countries that have not banned it continue to experience rising rates of mesothelioma. Workers renovating old buildings still encounter asbestos insulation installed decades ago.

The mesothelioma epidemic is not over. But because of Irving Selikoff, we understand it. We can diagnose it, treat it, and support patients and families affected by it. We can hold accountable the companies that knowingly exposed workers to a carcinogen.

That is a legacy worth remembering.