AboutMesothelioma.Net

By Wade Rawlins

All asbestos causes malignant mesothelioma and other forms of cancer. Yet even today, a large number of countries continue to import and export asbestos and use asbestos products. A ban is urgently needed on all forms of asbestos, according to an international academic society that analyzes critical occupational and environmental health issues.

In a new article in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, 16 occupational health researchers from the U.S., Great Britain, Japan, Italy, Canada, India and South Africa —representing the Collegium Ramazzini — write that the profound tragedy is that all illnesses and deaths related to asbestos are preventable. Yet the incidence of asbestos disease increases. The researchers say the risks of asbestos exposure cannot be controlled by technology or by workplace practices. They call for a worldwide ban on the mining and manufacture of all forms of asbestos.

Decades after asbestos was declared a human carcinogen, about 125 million people around the world remain exposed to asbestos at their workplaces, according to the World Health Organization. An estimated 43,000 people died of mesothelioma in 2000 and a much larger number of lung cancer deaths were due to workplace exposure to asbestos. In the U.S., about 2,500 to 3,000 people die of mesothelioma each year and thousands more from lung cancer. Asbestos diseases may claim as many as 10 million people before asbestos is banned worldwide and all exposure is halted, the researchers say.

Despite industry claims to the contrary, all forms of asbestos cause asbestosis, a progressive lung disease as well as mesothelioma, lung cancer and cancer of the larynx. Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen closely linked to asbestos-exposure. Typically, people who inhale asbestos fibers do not notice any symptoms of disease for 30 years or longer after exposure.

Fifty-two countries, including all members of the European Union, now ban all forms of asbestos. Yet many countries including the United States still import asbestos and make and use asbestos products. A number of countries that ban some forms of asbestos make an exception for chrysotile asbestos, which accounts for nearly 100 percent of the asbestos mined today and about 95 percent of the asbestos ever mined.

The asbestos industry claims that asbestos-related cancers are caused by forms of mineral fiber other than chrysotile asbestos and that chrysotile poses less risk to workers. But scientists and physicians generally agree that chrysotile causes various cancers including mesothelioma and lung cancer. Numerous studies refute industry reports that chrysotile is safe, according to the researchers.

Russia is now the leading producer of asbestos, followed by China, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Canada, Zimbabwe and Colombia. Most asbestos production occurs in Eastern Europe and Asia, often with little or no protection of workers or surrounding communities. Asbestos cement accounts for more than 85 percent of worldwide production.

“Scientists, physicians and responsible authorities in countries allowing the use of asbestos should have no ‘illusion’ that controlled use of chrysotile asbestos is an effective alternative to a ban on all use of asbestos,” the researchers say.