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Some soil fungi growing on asbestos fibers release chelators and antioxidants. The bioweathering potential of fungi has thus been envisaged as a possible route for bioremediation of asbestos rich soils, where no inactivation procedures have been established so far. The present study reports fungal-mediated modification of the surface reactivity of the fibers and of their potential to damage DNA in vitro. Verticillium sp. and Paecilomyces sp. were selected among the fungi isolated from fragments of chrysotile bearing rocks, as the most potent in iron extraction, and studied in parallel with F. oxysporum, previously reported to modify the surface reactivity of asbestos fibers. One sample of chrysotile from the Western Alps and a sample of UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer) crocidolite were incubated with or without fungi. All fungi extracted iron from both fibers (7.3% from crocidolite and 33.6% from chrysotile by …