Asbestos mortality: a Canadian export

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos mortality: a Canadian export, by A. Attaran, D.R. Boyd, M.B. Stanbrook (CMAJ, 2008).

The study

• Authors: A. Attaran, D.R. Boyd, M.B. Stanbrook
• Journal: CMAJ
• Published: 2008;179(9):871-4
• Type of article: Editorial
• Language: French
• Cited by: 6 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Summary of the article

This editorial, written ahead of the 4th Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention in Rome, criticized the Government of Canada's position on the international trade in chrysotile asbestos. The authors stated that Canada was the only Western democracy to have consistently opposed international efforts to regulate the global asbestos trade. It had led opposition to listing chrysotile under the convention, which requires exporting governments to notify importing governments before shipping a dangerous substance so that they can give informed consent. Citing the convention's review committee and the World Health Organization (WHO), the authors described chrysotile as a human carcinogen. They argued that a claim that chrysotile is safer than amphibole asbestos does not mean it is safe. They noted that occupational exposure to chrysotile with trace amphibole contamination (0.002%–0.310%) is sufficient for amphibole to accumulate in the lungs over a lifetime, and that Canada did not regularly monitor exported asbestos for such contamination. They reported that Canada was the world's second largest asbestos exporter and that 96% of Canadian asbestos was exported, mainly to developing countries such as India, Indonesia and Thailand. They also reported that Ottawa had given more than $19 million to the Chrysotile Institute, and that a Health Canada expert committee report on chrysotile had remained unpublished for over half a year. The authors concluded that Canada should drop its opposition to listing chrysotile, stop funding the Chrysotile Institute, and end the mining and export of chrysotile, as WHO recommends.

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 was an editorial (an opinion piece) in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The authors criticized the Government of Canada for opposing the listing of chrysotile asbestos under the Rotterdam Convention. That treaty requires exporting countries to notify importing countries before shipping dangerous substances. Citing other sources, the authors stated that 96% of asbestos produced in Canada was exported, primarily to developing countries such as India, Indonesia and Thailand, where it was mainly made into asbestos cement. They cited a WHO estimate of 100 000 preventable deaths globally each year, mainly from mesothelioma and lung cancer, which the editorial linked to amphibole asbestos exposure. They also cited work showing that trace amphibole contamination (0.002%–0.310%) in chrysotile was enough for amphibole to accumulate in the lungs over a lifetime. They wrote that Canada did not regularly monitor exported asbestos for amphibole, had given more than $19 million to the Chrysotile Institute, and had kept a Health Canada expert report unpublished for over half a year. The authors concluded that Canada should end chrysotile mining and export.

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: Editorial (opinion piece); not an original research study
• Who was studied: No people were studied; the editorial concerns Canadian government policy on asbestos exports to developing countries
• Exposure: Chrysotile asbestos exported from Canada, and amphibole contamination of chrysotile
• Main results:
  • The editorial stated that Canada is the only Western democracy to have consistently opposed international efforts to regulate the global asbestos trade (authors' statement, citing other sources)
  • The editorial stated that 96% of the asbestos produced in Canada is exported, primarily to developing countries such as India, Indonesia and Thailand, mainly for asbestos cement (citing a Canadian government response)
  • The editorial cited a WHO estimate of 100 000 preventable deaths globally each year, mainly from mesothelioma and lung cancer, in a passage on amphibole asbestos exposure
  • Citing another study, the editorial stated that occupational exposure to chrysotile with even trace amphibole contamination (0.002%–0.310%) is sufficient for amphibole to accumulate in the lungs over a lifetime
  • The authors stated that Canada's government does not regularly monitor exported asbestos for amphibole contamination
  • The authors stated that the Canadian federal government had given more than $19 million to the Chrysotile Institute, an advocacy group
  • The authors stated that a Health Canada expert committee report on chrysotile risks, delivered in March, had been kept secret for over half a year
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that Canada should drop its opposition to listing chrysotile under the Rotterdam Convention, stop funding the Chrysotile Institute, and end the mining and export of chrysotile, as WHO recommends

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Chrysotile, Informed Consent, Amphibole Asbestos, Occupational Exposure, Amphibole Group, Chrysotile Institute.

Related studies

• Stop Canadian death export of asbestos — P. Leuprecht (2011)
• Mortality and cancer morbidity in a cohort of Canadian petroleum workers — R.J. Lewis, A.R. Schnatter, et al. (2003)
• Mortality in Canadian miners and millers exposed to chrysotile — J.C. McDonald, F.D. Liddell (1979)
• Mortality Update of a Cohort of Canadian Petroleum Workers — A.R. Schnatter, N.C. Wojcik, et al. (2019)
• Canada accused of hypocrisy over asbestos exports — T. Kirby (2010)
• Ban all production and export of chrysotile asbestos — G. Paradis (2010)

Browse more research in CMAJ, or return to medical research.