Asbestos in Japan

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos in Japan, by S. Furuya, Y. Natori, R. Ikeda (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2003).

The study

• Authors: S. Furuya, Y. Natori, R. Ikeda
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2003;9(3):260-5
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

In 2002 a total ban on asbestos was announced in Japan, following many years of sporadic and variably effective measures intended to control its use in that country. A major factor in instigating the ban was public awareness raised by the publicizing of the experience of asbestos-exposed workers in the U.S. naval base and shipyards at Yokosuka, an inordinate number of whom died of asbestos-related disease. Statistics of asbestos-related disease mortality in Japan are presented. Groups prominent in the effort to establish the ban and make it effective include the Japan Occupational Safety and Health Resource Center (JOSHRC) and the Ban Asbestos Network Japan (BANJAN). Activities of these groups are described.

In plain English

This article was a descriptive report, not a research study. Its authors were all steering committee members of the Ban Asbestos Network Japan (BANJAN). It described asbestos use, laws and asbestos-related disease in Japan, and the work of campaign groups, after Japan's Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare announced in June 2002 a planned total ban on chrysotile asbestos. Japan's asbestos imports peaked at 352,110 tons in 1974. Crocidolite and amosite were prohibited in 1995. Official Vital Statistics recorded mesothelioma deaths in Japan rising from 500 in 1995 to 772 in 2001, about 6.1 per million population, which the authors described as still much lower than in other Western countries. Compensated cases of asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma were few, with 52 in 2000, and 18 prefectures had reported none. The authors noted that official statistics do not make asbestos's health effects clear. They concluded that the recent rise in mesothelioma deaths was reasonably attributed to the sharp rise in asbestos use from around the 1960s, and they called for an immediate total 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: Descriptive report and advocacy account (not an original research study) by members of the Ban Asbestos Network Japan steering committee, presenting national statistics and describing campaign activities
• Who was studied: Japan as a whole: national asbestos import figures, workers' compensation figures, and official Vital Statistics mesothelioma deaths for 1995 to 2001, plus an account of asbestos victims in Yokosuka (site of a U.S. naval base and shipyards)
• Exposure: Asbestos imported and used in Japan, mainly chrysotile in 2001 and mostly in construction materials. Crocidolite and amosite were prohibited in 1995.
• Main results:
  • Japan's annual asbestos imports peaked in 1974 at 352,110 tons.
  • In 2001 Japan imported 79,463 tons of chrysotile asbestos, of which 44,203 tons (55.6%) came from Canada.
  • Official Vital Statistics mesothelioma deaths in Japan rose from 500 in 1995 to 772 in 2001.
  • The 2001 figure was about 6.1 per million population, which the authors described as still much lower than figures for other Western countries.
  • Compensated cases of asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma numbered fewer than 10 before 1984, 10-19 in 1985-1991, 20-29 in 1992-1997, 42 in 1998 and 1999, and 52 in 2000.
  • 18 prefectures (about 39% of all prefectures) had reported no compensated case of asbestos-related cancer.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that it is reasonable to attribute the recent rapid increase in mesothelioma deaths to the extreme rise in asbestos use since around the 1960s. They called for an immediate total ban on asbestos as a first step.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors stated that the health effects of asbestos in Japan are not clear from official statistics.
  • The authors stated that figures for asbestosis are not available, because pneumoconiosis data include asbestosis.

Topics

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

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