Posted on May 27, 2025
Meet Dr. Irving Selikoff: From Groundbreaking Asbestos Research to Modern Health Advocacy
As the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) prepares for its 20th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference this September in New York City, we reflect on the pioneering scientist whose work laid the foundation for today’s ongoing fight against asbestos-related diseases.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Irving Selikoff graduated from Columbia University and later earned his medical degree in Scotland. Though he first gained acclaim for co-developing isoniazid as a breakthrough tuberculosis treatment, it was his groundbreaking work with asbestos-exposed workers in Paterson, New Jersey, that would define his career and ultimately save countless lives worldwide.
In the 1950s, Selikoff began treating workers from a local asbestos plant in his medical practice. The pattern he observed shocked the medical community: alarming rates of rare lung diseases, including asbestosis and mesothelioma, among his patients. When he systematically tracked their health outcomes, the results were devastating: 15 out of 17 workers died within just a few years of exposure to asbestos from asbestos-related illnesses. This pattern was too striking and too tragic to ignore.
Recognizing the magnitude of what he had uncovered, Selikoff expanded his investigation into large-scale epidemiological studies that would become legendary in occupational health research. His most famous cohort study followed 17,800 asbestos insulation workers over decades, which provided irrefutable scientific evidence that asbestos exposure dramatically increased the risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other fatal diseases. To this day, asbestos advocacy and compensation are based on these original, groundbreaking findings.
Revolutionary Scientific Findings
Selikoff’s meticulous research overturned conventional wisdom and established three critical principles that remain central to asbestos science today:
- No Safe Exposure Level: His studies and leading role in risk evaluation demonstrated that even low or intermittent exposures could cause disease, directly challenging the industrial position that only high exposures were dangerous.
- Synergistic Effects with Smoking: He proved that asbestos exposure combined with cigarette smoking led to a staggering 90-fold increase in lung cancer risk. This finding transformed our understanding of occupational carcinogens, not just asbestos.
- Long Latency and Cumulative Risk: Selikoff showed that asbestos-related diseases often appeared decades after initial exposure, and that risk accumulated over time, even at supposedly “safe” lower exposure levels.
Transforming Public Policy Through Science
Selikoff’s findings were widely publicized, particularly after he organized the landmark 1964 “Biological Effects of Asbestos” conference in New York City. This gathering forced the scientific community, government regulators, and the general public to confront the true scale of the asbestos health crisis, despite fierce resistance from the asbestos industry. Oftentimes, scientific research goes unnoticed by the larger public — Selikoff made sure his work was spread far and wide in the hopes of influencing real change.
The work led to significant reforms including:
OSHA Standards: When the Occupational Safety and Health Administration was established in 1971, it set the first emergency permissible exposure limit (PEL) for asbestos at 5 fibers per cubic centimeter (f/cc), representing a dramatic reduction from earlier, more permissive unenforced guidelines.
EPA and Global Action: Selikoff’s research directly influenced the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of asbestos as a hazardous air pollutant and inspired similar protective actions worldwide. Today, over 50 countries have banned asbestos entirely, though significant regulatory gaps remain in many nations, including the United States. Perhaps most importantly, Selikoff’s research fundamentally shifted regulatory thinking away from seeking a “safe” threshold and brought about the recognition that banning it, rather than hoping to just regulate its use, was necessary. But even with a ban, there was all that asbestos in place that would have to be dealt with.
PHOTO: Dr. Irving Selikoff chatting with Barry Castleman and Paul Safchuck, White Lung Association, Third Wave of Asbestos Disease conference, 1990, New York.’ Photo by Earl Dotter.
Advocacy Under Fire
Selikoff’s tireless advocacy brought him into direct conflict with the powerful asbestos industry, which mounted sustained campaigns to discredit his work and attack his credibility.
Despite facing intense industry pressure and personal attacks, his rigorous research methods and groundbreaking conclusions have withstood decades of scientific scrutiny and validation by countless subsequent studies.
- Clinical Innovation: Selikoff established the first hospital division dedicated to occupational and environmental medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. The Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health continue to serve thousands of workers and their families, providing critical medical care and advocacy.
- Education and Global Impact: He trained generations of physicians and researchers, spreading awareness and expertise to every corner of the globe.
- Public Consciousness: His unwavering advocacy brought the hidden dangers of asbestos into public view, fundamentally shaping the field of occupational health and worker protection.
Recent research has broadened our understanding of asbestos-related cancers far beyond Selikoff’s original findings:
Digestive System Cancers: Comprehensive meta-analyses now definitively link occupational asbestos exposure to increased risks of esophageal, stomach, and colorectal cancers, particularly in high-exposure occupations.
Additional Cancer Sites: The World Health Organization now confirms asbestos as a proven cause of ovarian and laryngeal cancers, with all asbestos fiber types, including supposedly “safer” chrysotile, posing significant health risks.
Carrying Forward Selikoff’s Mission
As the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization marks its 20th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference: “Building on Dr. Selikoff’s Legacy in Asbestos Science, Prevention & Justice”, taking place September 12-13, 2025, in New York City, the relevance of Selikoff’s pioneering work has never been clearer.
This year’s conference, hosted in the very city where Selikoff conducted his groundbreaking research and organized his historic 1964 conference, brings together leading scientists, medical professionals, legal advocates, and policy makers to address:
- Emerging research on asbestos-related autoimmune diseases and non-respiratory cancers
- Strategies for global asbestos eradication and improved occupational safety
- Justice and compensation for asbestos victims and their families
- Modern approaches to legacy asbestos management in older buildings
The conference represents the continuation of Selikoff’s mission: translating rigorous science into effective policy, meaningful protection for workers, and justice for those harmed by asbestos exposure.
Dr. Barry Castleman, a 1990 Third Wave of Asbestos Disease conference attendee shared, “Working with Dr. Irving Selikoff shaped my 50-year career and deepened my commitment to controlling and eliminating asbestos hazards in the United States and around the world. I’ve testified for many years in courts where compensation for asbestos victims is determined. Dr. Selikoff’s leadership led to significant advances in occupational safety and health protections.”
Dr. Irving Selikoff’s scientific rigor, deep compassion for working people, and unwavering commitment to public health not only exposed the hidden dangers of asbestos but established new gold standards for occupational safety research and advocacy worldwide. His robust evidence base directly shaped OSHA and EPA regulations that continue to protect workers today, fundamentally altering both policy and practice in occupational health.
As ADAO’s 20th conference demonstrates, new research continues to reveal the extensive health risks of asbestos while highlighting the ongoing need for vigilance, advocacy, and rigorous science. Selikoff’s legacy endures as a powerful reminder that protecting workers and communities requires not just good science but the courage to speak truth to power and fight for those whose voices might otherwise go unheard.
In a world where asbestos still claims hundreds of thousands of lives annually, Dr. Selikoff’s example remains our guide: that through dedicated research, persistent advocacy, and an unwavering commitment to human dignity, we can build safer workplaces and healthier communities for all.
With respect and admiration,
Linda
Linda Reinstein
The ADAO 20th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference takes place September 12-13, 2025, in New York City. Learn more about Dr. Selikoff’s enduring legacy and current asbestos awareness efforts at www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.