Asbestos problems yet to explode in Korea

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos problems yet to explode in Korea, by D. Paek (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2003).

The study

• Author: D. Paek
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2003;9(3):266-71
• Type of article: Historical article
• Cited by: 8 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Although asbestos mining and manufacture has occurred in Korea since the 1920s, it was not until the 1980s that the broader social democratic movement heightened public awareness of the health problems associated with exposure to asbestos. The first systematic national survey of asbestos-related diseases was conducted in 1993. In that year, the first case of asbestos-related disease was compensated by the government. This long-delayed recognition of asbestos-related disease took place in a country that already had more than 100 asbestos factories. About 40 to 50 mesothelioma cases are reported annually through the Korean Cancer Registry. Nonetheless, only six mesothelioma cases have ever been referred to the government for workers' compensation. Lung cancer is the fastest growing cancer in Korea. Over the last 15 years, mortality from lung cancer has more than tripled. Among all these lung cancer cases, only 12 have been recognized as occupational in origin and compensated accordingly.

In plain English

This article was a country report rather than a new study: the author reviewed the history of asbestos mining, manufacture and regulation in Korea and summarized national data on asbestos-related disease, including the author's own 1993 national survey of asbestos manufacturing workers. By 1993 Korea had 118 asbestos manufacturing workplaces with 1,476 workers. In the mid-1980s, airborne levels were less than 0.5 fibers per cc in asbestos cement, 1-2 in friction materials and more than 5 in textiles. In the 1993 survey, about 3% of workers examined had chest x-ray findings compatible with asbestosis. No worker with less than ten years of tenure had abnormal chest findings, compared with 8% of those with 20 or more years. About 40 to 50 mesothelioma cases were reported to the cancer registry annually, yet only six had been referred for workers' compensation. Only 12 lung cancer cases had been recognized as occupational. The author concluded that Korea's asbestos problem was yet to arise and called for a mesothelioma registry and a total ban on all forms of 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 and country report on asbestos use, disease, compensation and regulation in Korea. It draws on national statistics, the cancer registry and the author's own earlier 1993 national survey of asbestos manufacturing workers.
• Who was studied: Korea from the 1920s to about 2003. The main groups were asbestos manufacturing workers (118 workplaces with 1,476 workers in 1993), workers registered for medical follow-up (449 by 2003), mesothelioma cases in the Korean cancer registry, and national lung cancer deaths from 1983 to 1997.
• Exposure: Asbestos in mining and manufacturing: asbestos cement, friction materials (brake linings) and textiles, plus end users of asbestos products such as mechanics, welders and shipbuilding workers. Mid-1980s airborne levels were less than 0.5 fibers/cc for asbestos cement, 1-2 for friction materials and more than 5 for textiles. Crocidolite and amosite were banned in 1997, leaving chrysotile as the form in use.
• Main results:
  • In the 1993 national survey of asbestos manufacturing workers, about 3% of those examined had chest x-ray findings compatible with asbestosis. Half of these also had restrictive lung function changes.
  • Abnormal chest findings rose with length of work: none among workers with less than ten years of tenure, and 8% among those with 20 or more years. The author described this as a clear dose-response relationship.
  • About 40 to 50 mesothelioma cases were reported annually through the Korean cancer registry. The author estimated the annual incidence in the general population at around 1-2 cases per million.
  • Only six mesothelioma cases had been referred to the government for workers' compensation. Their exposures included shipbuilding, boiler operation, mechanic work, serpentine rock mines and construction.
  • Only one of the six mesothelioma cases referred for compensation had worked in asbestos manufacture, in a textile factory.
  • Only 12 lung cancer cases had been recognized as occupational and compensated. Only two of these were in workers who had worked with raw asbestos.
  • Total lung cancer mortality in Korea rose from 5.8 per 100,000 (2,140 deaths) in 1983 to 20.8 per 100,000 (9,566 deaths) in 1997. The author described this as more than a threefold increase over 15 years.
  • Among men who died of lung cancer, the occupational groups with increasing numbers included plant and machine operators and laborers. The author suggested that asbestos exposure in these groups deserved further investigation.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the asbestos problem in Korea was yet to arise. Mesothelioma incidence was still low, around the pre-epidemic level of other countries. The author called for systematic surveillance, such as a mesothelioma registry, and a total ban on all forms of asbestos.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • There were no data on how many Korean citizens used asbestos products or lived near asbestos mines and factories, nor on their exposure levels.
  • Past exposure levels were unknown for almost all workers with asbestos-related disease found to date.
  • There was no record of the numbers or whereabouts of miners from the early asbestos mining period.
  • Not all cancer cases are diagnosed by the hospitals that take part in the cancer registry, so registry counts of mesothelioma are incomplete.

Topics

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

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma, Cancer Registry, Lung Cancer.

Related studies

• Asbestos-related occupational cancers compensated under the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance in Korea — Y.S. Ahn, S.K. Kang (2009)
• 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)
• Awkward medicolegal problems in asbestos-induced disease. Problems in law — C. Clothier (1978)
• Awkward medicolegal problems in asbestos workers — A.J. Robertson (1978)
• Asbestos mining in Southern Africa, 1893-2002 — J. McCulloch (2003)
• Trends in occupational asbestos exposure and asbestos consumption over recent decades in Korea — D. Park, S. Choi, et al. (2008)

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