[Pulmonary and pleural reaction patterns to artificial mineral fibers --rockwool].

Epidemiological and animal studies about the fibrogenic and carcinogenic properties of natural mineral fibers required the development of man made vitreous fibers as substitutes for asbestos containing material. The question about the possible fibrogenic and carcinogenic properties of man-made vitreous fibers is not yet answered. By means of different experimental animal studies we tried to investigate the man made vitreous fibers-related pulmonary and pleural diseases. The experimental administration of rockwool induce lesions in the lung of the rats. The lung showed an extensive granulomatous inflammation. In the observation time of 10 months we did not find any malignant tumor of the lung and the pleura.