Asbestos and mesothelioma: worldwide trends

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos and mesothelioma: worldwide trends, by L. Kazan-Allen (Lung Cancer, 2005).

The study

• Author: L. Kazan-Allen
• Journal: Lung Cancer
• Published: 2005;49 Suppl 1:S3-8
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 100 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

A correlation between national asbestos consumption and the incidence of asbestos disease, including mesothelioma, has been observed. Towards the end of the 20th century, governments in many developed countries banned or seriously restricted the use of asbestos. As a result, global asbestos producers have engaged in aggressive marketing campaigns to sell asbestos to developing countries; consumption of white asbestos is increasing in Asia, Latin America and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In most of the countries, there is little, if any, control on hazardous asbestos exposures from occupational, environmental and domestic sources. It is likely that the lethal asbestos harvest which is occurring in the U.S., the UK and Australia will be reproduced in the developing world.

In plain English

This article is a narrative review and commentary by the author, of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. It reported no new study data and drew its figures from other sources. Quoting the U.S. Geological Survey, it stated that 2.15 million tonnes of chrysotile (white asbestos) was mined in 2003, and that Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia and Thailand accounted for more than 80% of world apparent consumption in 2000. It cited Tossavainen's estimate that about 170 tonnes of asbestos produced and consumed causes at least one mesothelioma death. Case studies of Brazil, India and Kazakhstan, based on inspectors, doctors and reports, described poorly controlled workplace exposure. In India, 1997 government surveys recorded airborne levels of 2 to 488 f/cm3 against a national standard of 2 f/cm3. The author quoted others on missing and underreported disease data in developing countries and on mesothelioma deaths in the United States, the UK and Australia. The author concluded that the only way to curtail the spread of the mesothelioma epidemic is a global ban on asbestos.

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: Narrative review / commentary compiling figures and quotations from other sources; no original data collection
• Who was studied: Countries worldwide, with case studies of Brazil, India and Kazakhstan. The article also mentions Pakistan and the Philippines, and the developed countries the United States, the UK and Australia. There is no study population.
• Exposure: National asbestos production and consumption, mainly chrysotile (white asbestos), with occupational, environmental and domestic exposures
• Main results:
  • Citing U.S. Geological Survey data, the article stated that six countries (Brazil, China, India, Japan, Russia and Thailand) accounted for more than 80% of world apparent asbestos consumption in 2000.
  • The article cited Tossavainen's research finding that about 170 tonnes of produced and consumed asbestos will cause at least one death from mesothelioma.
  • For Brazil, the article cited figures from The Brazilian Association of The Asbestos-Exposed (ABREA): of 960 former workers at Eternit's Osasco asbestos-cement factory, 549 were affected by an asbestos-related disease or symptoms. Brazilian government statistics reported fewer than 100 asbestos-related deaths between 1900 and 1998.
  • For India, the article stated that government surveys in 1997 recorded airborne levels of between 2 and 488 f/cm3 in occupational settings. The Indian standard for chrysotile is 2 f/cm3.
  • The article quoted National Institute of Occupational Health (India) findings of lung impairment and radiological abnormalities in 54.8% of asbestos milling workers and 19.5% of miners.
  • The article cited an International Labour Office estimate (Takala) of 100,000 work-related asbestos deaths worldwide every year.
  • The article quoted Bianchi as stating that reliable mesothelioma incidence and mortality figures are available for only about 15% of the world population.
  • For the United States, the article cited an Environmental Working Group report stating that 10,000 Americans die each year from asbestos diseases.
  • For Australia, the article stated that the Australian Mesothelioma Register received 6129 mesothelioma notifications between 1986 and 2000.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the only way to curtail the spread of the mesothelioma epidemic is to institute a global ban on asbestos.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author stated that no one knows how many people have contracted asbestos-related diseases in the developing world.

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Asbestos Exposure.

Related studies

• Trades of dangers: a study of asbestos industry transfer cases in Asia — Y. Choi, S. Lim, et al. (2013)
• Transfer of occupational health problems from a developed to a developing country: lessons from the Japan-South Korea experience — J. Park, N. Hisanaga, et al. (2009)
• The next mesothelioma wave: mortality trends and forecast to 2030 in Brazil — E. Algranti, C.A. Saito, et al. (2015)
• Lung Cancer Mortality Trends in a Brazilian City with a Long History of Asbestos Consumption — G.A. Fernandes, E. Algranti, et al. (2019)
• The worldwide pandemic of asbestos-related diseases — L. Stayner, L.S. Welch, et al. (2013)
• Trends and the Economic Effect of Asbestos Bans and Decline in Asbestos Consumption and Production Worldwide — L.P. Allen, J. Baez, et al. (2018)

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