Asbestos dispatches

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos dispatches, by L. Kazan-Allen (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2004).

The study

• Author: L. Kazan-Allen
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2004;10(2):111-20
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

As the global campaign to ban asbestos gathers momentum, more countries and organizations are restricting the use of chrysotile (white asbestos). Attempting to reverse the fall in global demand, asbestos stakeholders have redoubled marketing efforts in countries such as India where health and safety regulations are not strictly enforced. In the Canadian asbestos heartland, public and media awareness has grown and industry's influence has weakened. In response, chrysotile producers are pressing federal and provincial governments for mandatory increases in consumption, despite new research documenting an asbestos cancer epidemic.

In plain English

This article was a news-style commentary by the author, not a research study. It reported developments from 2002 to early 2004 in the debate over chrysotile (white asbestos), mainly in Canada and India. The author cited a Health Canada investigation that confirmed 63 mesothelioma cases in Lambton County, Ontario, between 1986 and 1995. That investigation found a standardized incidence ratio of 3.95 (p less than 0.01) in males only, with 21 observed cases versus 5.3 expected for 1986 to 1993. The author also described a Quebec public health institute report that documented 832 cases of pleural mesothelioma in Quebec between 1982 and 1996. Air sampling at 17 homes in the Thetford mining region found what the article called dangerously high asbestos levels in eight (47%). The article also covered Canadian government support for chrysotile use, industry promotion in India, and Canada's role in blocking international listing of chrysotile. It reported national bans in 13 of 15 European Union states and in Australia, and a Japanese order, effective October 2004, forbidding asbestos in new building and friction materials. The author argued that government moves to increase chrysotile use were hard to justify given the Quebec findings.

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: commentary / news report (not original research), published in a journal special issue on asbestos
• Who was studied: No study population. The article reported on asbestos policy, industry activity and disease reports, mainly in Canada (Quebec and Ontario) and India, with briefer coverage of the European Union, Japan, Australia and South Africa, roughly 2002 to early 2004
• Exposure: Mining, export and use of chrysotile (white asbestos), particularly Canadian chrysotile
• Main results:
  • The author cited a Health Canada investigation in Lambton County, Ontario. It confirmed 63 mesothelioma cases between 1986 and 1995 and reported a standardized incidence ratio of 3.95 (P < 0.01) for males only, with 21 observed versus 5.3 expected cases for 1986 to 1993.
  • The author cited a report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec that documented 832 cases of pleural mesothelioma in Quebec between 1982 and 1996. The report's authors concluded that for men only some parts of the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands had significantly higher rates, and for women no country surpassed Quebec.
  • The article reported that air sampling at 17 homes in the Thetford asbestos mining region in August and November 2003 revealed dangerously high asbestos levels in eight properties (47%).
  • An end note stated that of 3,500 lung cancer cases diagnosed in Quebec in 1998, up to 525 could be related to occupational asbestos exposure. The compensation board compensated 210 lung cancer cases in total between 1988 and 1997.
  • The article reported that the Canadian government announced an additional C$775,000 for the Asbestos Institute over three years. With a C$125,000 Treasury Board contribution, this brought recent publicly acknowledged donations to C$900,000.
  • At a November 2003 chrysotile asbestos cement conference in New Delhi, 14 of 38 presentations (37%) were by Canadian industry representatives, consultants, doctors and researchers with links to the Asbestos Institute.
  • In November 2003, India was one of eight countries that supported Canada in blocking the listing of chrysotile under the Prior Informed Consent procedure for hazardous chemicals in international trade.
  • The article reported that 13 of the 15 European Union Member States had adopted national asbestos bans ahead of the January 1, 2005 deadline.
  • On October 16, 2003, Japan published a cabinet order forbidding the use of asbestos in new building and friction materials, products that account for 90% of asbestos used in Japan, as of October 1, 2004.
• The authors' conclusion: The author argued that, in light of the Quebec epidemiologists' findings, it was hard to see how provincial and federal governments could justify actions to increase chrysotile consumption.

Topics

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

Related studies

• Canadian asbestos: a global concern — L. Kazan-Allen (2004)
• Asbestos banned in Argentina — E.J. Rodriguez (2004)
• Asbestos-related morbidity in India — T.K. Joshi, R.K. Gupta (2003)
• Asbestos production increases despite WHO opposition — T. Burki (2009)
• The phase-out of asbestos in the Australian manufacturing environment — D.A. Vallance (2004)
• How Canada Changed from Exporting Asbestos to Banning Asbestos: The Challenges That Had to Be Overcome — K. Ruff (2017)

Browse more research in International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, or return to medical research.