Health and Safety Executive (HSE) researchers John Hodgson and Andrew Darnton published a report on the relatively risks of different forms of asbestos. They concluded the risks of chrysotile asbestos – the only form of asbestos used in the UK since the 1970s and which has accounted for the great majority of the asbestos ever used– were relatively low.  The paper said chrysotile (white asbestos) caused one case of mesothelioma for every 100 caused by amosite (brown asbestos) and 500 caused by crocidolite (blue asbestos).  In 2009, the same authors had to admit they had got their sums wrong – really wrong. Hodgson and Darnton said the ratio was really 1:10:50. Their original and wrong findings, however, were still being used in 2013 by the industry and the International Agency for Research on Cancer to support claims of the relative safety of chrysotile.

John T Hodgson and Andrew Darnton. The quantitative risks of mesothelioma and lung cancer in relation to asbestos exposure, The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, volume 44, issue 8, pages 565-601, 2000.