A worn-out welcome: renewed call for a global ban on asbestos

Our plain-English summary of A worn-out welcome: renewed call for a global ban on asbestos, by R.C. Haynes (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2010).

The study

• Author: R.C. Haynes
• Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Published: 2010;118(7):A298-303
• Type of article: Comment, News
• Cited by: 9 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

This news feature reported on the Collegium Ramazzini's 2010 renewal of its 1999 call for a global ban on the mining and use of asbestos. It drew on published sources and interviews with occupational health experts, consultants and advocates. The article stated that global asbestos use was about 4.3–4.7 million metric tons per year when Iceland became the first country to ban most forms in 1983, and had fallen to 2.1 million metric tons twenty-five years later. Demand continued to rise in rapidly industrializing countries such as India and China. Chrysotile accounted for nearly all asbestos still mined. An estimated 125 million people were still exposed at work. The feature described the World Trade Organization ruling that upheld France's ban against Canada's challenge, Canada's continued chrysotile exports, widespread chrysotile use in India, and the 'Kubota Shock' that preceded Japan's phase-out. It noted one estimate of about 100,000 Japanese mesothelioma deaths over the next 40 years. In the United States, mining stopped in 2002, but 1,460 metric tons of chrysotile were imported in 2008. Efforts to pass a federal ban had repeatedly stalled. Alternatives were reported to cost 10–15% more. Interviewees said a U.S. and Canadian ban would have major worldwide influence and expected an eventual global ban.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This is a news feature, not a research study, and it reports no original data. The author described the Collegium Ramazzini's 2010 renewal of its 1999 call for a global ban on asbestos mining and use. The article reviewed asbestos production, use and national bans, using cited sources and interviews with occupational health experts and advocates. Figures it reported from other sources included global use of about 4.3 to 4.7 million metric tons per year when Iceland banned most forms in 1983, falling to 2.1 million metric tons twenty-five years later. It reported that chrysotile made up nearly 100% of asbestos still mined and that an estimated 125 million people were exposed at work. Other figures were estimated 2008 production of 1,017,000 metric tons in Russia and 280,000 in China, and 1,460 metric tons of chrysotile imported into the United States in 2008, mostly from Canada. One estimate cited was about 100,000 mesothelioma deaths in Japan over the next 40 years. The article also covered Canadian exports to India, Japan's phase-out, and stalled U.S. ban legislation. The experts quoted supported a worldwide ban.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: News feature (journalistic article reporting on a policy statement, with interviews and cited secondary sources); not original research
• Who was studied: No study population; the article covers asbestos production, use and bans worldwide, with focus on Canada, India, Japan, China, Brazil and the United States, as of 2010
• Exposure: Asbestos in general, including chrysotile and amphiboles (amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite, actinolite), used in cement products, fabrics, building construction, vehicle parts and shipbuilding
• Main results:
  • Global asbestos use, reported from cited U.S. Geological Survey data, fell from about 4.3 to 4.7 million metric tons per year in 1983 to 2.1 million metric tons twenty-five years later
  • Chrysotile was reported to account for 95% of asbestos used in the twentieth century and nearly 100% of asbestos still mined and in circulation
  • An estimated 125 million people were reported to be still exposed to asbestos in the workplace (cited WHO source)
  • Estimated 2008 production was 1,017,000 metric tons for Russia (world leader) and 280,000 metric tons for China (second-largest producer), according to a photo caption
  • The United States imported 1,460 metric tons of chrysotile in 2008, mostly from Canada
  • One cited estimate projected about 100,000 Japanese deaths from mesothelioma in the next 40 years
  • Approximately 340 miners worked in Canada's sole remaining open-pit asbestos mine
  • India's use of asbestos, mainly for roofing, was reported to have more than doubled between 2000 and 2007 (photo caption)
  • Asbestos alternatives were reported to cost 10 to 15% more than asbestos
• The authors' conclusion: As a news feature, the article draws no research conclusion; the experts and advocates it quotes called for asbestos to be banned in the United States and worldwide

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Collegium Ramazzini, Chrysotile, Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• A repeat call for the banning of asbestos — L.S. Birnbaum, J.C. Schroeder, et al. (2010)
• The case for a global ban on asbestos — J. LaDou, B. Castleman, et al. (2010)
• Global corporate policies and international "double standards" in occupational and environmental health — B. Castleman (1999)
• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call — Collegium Ramazzini (2010)
• Asbestos is still with us: repeat call for a universal ban — C. Ramazzini (2010)
• International jurisprudence on trade and environmental health: one step forward, two steps back? — K. Timmermans (2008)

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