Asbestos in Asia

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos in Asia, by S.L. Leong, R. Zainudin, L. Kazan-Allen, et al (Respirology, 2015).

The study

• Authors: S.L. Leong, R. Zainudin, L. Kazan-Allen, B.W. Robinson
• Journal: Respirology
• Published: 2015;20(4):548-55
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 31 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Asbestos is a global killer. Despite lessons learned in the developed world on the use of asbestos and its hazardous pulmonary consequences, its use continues to increase in Asia. Although some countries such as Japan, Korea and Singapore have curtailed the use of this mineral, there are numerous countries in Asia that continue to mine, import and use this fibre, particularly China, which is one of the largest consumers in the world. Numerous factors ranging from political and economic to the lack of understanding of asbestos and the management of asbestos-related lung disease are keys to this observed trend. Awareness of these factors combined with early intervention may prevent the predicted Asian 'tsunami' of asbestos diseases.

© 2015 Asian Pacific Society of Respirology.

In plain English

This was an invited review of asbestos use and asbestos-related diseases in Asia, drawing on earlier studies and reports rather than new research. The authors discussed why asbestos is still used in Asia, including industry promotion of 'controlled use' as safe. Citing other sources, they reported Asia's share of global asbestos use rising from 14% in 1920–1970 to 64% in 2000–2007. A cited report recorded 12 882 asbestos-related deaths, 93.2% from mesothelioma. However, of the 47 Asian countries it identified, only 15 had data on both asbestos use and deaths, and 2 on deaths alone. Mesothelioma deaths in Japan, they reported, rose from 941 in 2008 to 1209 in 2010. For Indonesia, their example, the latest data showed 65 000 tonnes a year, though the authors said true figures were possibly much higher. They noted that robust data on these diseases are lacking in many Asian countries. The authors concluded that asbestos, widely used in Asia with little occupational protection, will produce many thousands of disease cases in coming decades. They called for less asbestos use, surveillance for disease and better training.

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: invited narrative review (no new data collected by the authors)
• Who was studied: Asian countries as a region, drawing on published data and reports from Japan, China, India, Korea, Singapore, Vietnam and others, with Indonesia discussed as an illustrative example
• Exposure: asbestos in general, with emphasis on chrysotile (white asbestos), which is still mined and used in Asia; crocidolite and amosite are also discussed
• Main results:
  • Citing another source, the authors reported that Asia's share of global asbestos use rose from 14% in 1920–1970 to 33% in 1971–2000 and to 64% in 2000–2007
  • A report by Le et al. identified 47 Asian countries with available data on asbestos use and/or mortality from asbestos-related disease
  • Of those countries in Le et al.'s report, 30 had data on asbestos use only, 15 had data on both asbestos use and mortality from asbestos-related disease, and 2 had mortality data only
  • Le et al. recorded a total of 12 882 asbestos-related deaths, of which mesothelioma accounted for 93.2%
  • In Japan, citing other sources, the annual rate of increase in mesothelioma in 1994–2008 was 3.46%, with 941 deaths in 2008 rising to 1209 in 2010
  • In Japan, after the 2005 'Kubota shock', reported cases of asbestos-related lung cancer rose to almost 1000 in 2006, compared with fewer than 100 two years earlier (cited study)
  • A cited study of male workers in a Chinese textile factory (1972–2008) reported a 22% prevalence of asbestosis
  • Kishimoto et al. (cited) reported that 34% of their Japanese asbestos-related lung cancer patients had evidence of asbestosis
  • In Indonesia, the latest data cited showed annual asbestos consumption of 65 000 tonnes a year. The authors cautioned that true figures are possibly much higher.
  • The authors described asbestos companies openly promoting the 'controlled use' of asbestos as safe
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that asbestos is widely used in Asia with little occupational protection and will produce many thousands of cases of asbestos-related disease in the next decades. They said that reducing this risk will require less asbestos use, surveillance, training and cooperation.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that robust data on asbestos-related diseases are lacking in many Asian countries
  • The authors stated that Asia has too many countries to discuss in detail, so they used Indonesia as a single illustrative example
  • The authors cautioned that the reported Indonesian consumption figure may understate the true figure

Topics

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

Related studies

• ASIA: asbestos stop in Asia — P. Baas, S. Burgers (2015)
• Trades of dangers: a study of asbestos industry transfer cases in Asia — Y. Choi, S. Lim, et al. (2013)
• Environmental threats to children's health in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific — W.A. Suk, K.M. Ruchirawat, et al. (2003)
• Asbestos use and asbestos-related diseases in Asia: past, present and future — G.V. le, K. Takahashi, et al. (2011)
• Banning asbestos in Asia: campaigns and strategies by the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) — S. Pandita (2006)
• Corporate influence on threshold limit values — B.I. Castleman, G.E. Ziem (1988)

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