Asbestos-related hazards in developing countries

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos-related hazards in developing countries, by B.S. Levy, A. Seplow (Environmental Research, 1992).

The study

• Authors: B.S. Levy, A. Seplow
• Journal: Environmental Research
• Published: 1992;59(1):167-74
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 5 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

The authors examined asbestos hazards in developing countries and responses to them. They reviewed published reports, presented a questionnaire survey, summarized ongoing research and described the International Labor Organization (ILO) asbestos convention. Cited studies included a Thai survey that found a 5.2% prevalence of asbestosis and asbestos-related diseases among 1013 workers in 24 factories, and a Thai study in which 109 (33%) of 330 randomly autopsied lungs contained asbestos bodies. In summer 1991 the authors surveyed occupational and environmental health specialists from 13 developing countries. Roofing materials and brake linings were each named as leading occupational sources by respondents from 8 countries. Nine countries had workplace asbestos standards, but in 7 of these respondents said enforcement was lenient or absent. Only 3 countries had environmental asbestos standards, and 10 had workers' compensation laws. Of 73 responses on the feasibility of specific workplace preventive measures, 63 (86%) were ranked "probable" or "possible." Five respondents rated asbestos exposure a high priority, five a low priority and three not a priority. A mid-1990 inventory identified 15 ongoing research projects concerned at least in part with asbestos. As of 1991, only 11 countries had ratified ILO Convention 162 (1986). The authors concluded that asbestos exposure is a widespread hazard in developing countries. They called implementation of preventive measures essential to avoid a worldwide catastrophe of asbestos-related health effects.

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 article was mainly a review. It summarized published reports on asbestos exposure and disease in developing countries, ongoing research, and the 1986 International Labor Organization (ILO) asbestos convention. It also reported a questionnaire survey the authors conducted in summer 1991 among occupational and environmental health specialists, with respondents from 13 countries. Roofing materials and brake linings were each named among the three leading sources of workplace exposure by respondents from 8 countries. Nine of the 13 countries had workplace asbestos standards. In 7 of those 9, respondents said the standards were enforced only leniently or not at all. Only 3 of the 13 countries had environmental asbestos standards. Of 73 responses on how feasible workplace prevention measures were, 63 (86%) were ranked "probable" or "possible". The authors noted that, as of 1991, only 11 countries had ratified the ILO convention. They concluded that putting into practice the preventive measures advocated by the ILO and others is essential if a "worldwide catastrophe" of asbestos-related health effects is to be avoided.

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: Review of published literature, combined with a questionnaire survey of health specialists conducted by the authors, a review of research inventories, and a summary of the ILO asbestos convention
• Who was studied: Occupational and environmental health specialists from developing countries, with respondents from 13 countries (Botswana, China, Egypt, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Peru, Republic of China (Taiwan), Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela); surveyed in summer 1991
• Exposure: Asbestos in general (fiber types not specified for the survey), from occupational, environmental and consumer-product sources
• Main results:
  • Among survey respondents, roofing materials and brake linings were each named among the three leading sources of occupational asbestos exposure by respondents from 8 of the 13 countries
  • Eight respondents estimated the number of asbestos-exposed workers in their countries; estimates ranged from less than 100 to over 100,000
  • 9 of the 13 countries had workplace asbestos standards; in 7 of these 9, respondents said the standards were enforced only leniently or not at all
  • Only 3 of the 13 countries had environmental asbestos standards; 10 of the 13 had workers' compensation laws
  • Of 73 survey responses on the feasibility of specific workplace prevention measures, 63 (86%) were ranked "probable" or "possible"
  • Compared with other health problems in their countries, five respondents rated asbestos exposure a high priority, five a low priority, and three not a priority
  • A 1990 survey of research in developing countries identified 15 ongoing research projects at least partly concerned with asbestos
  • The IARC directory of ongoing cancer epidemiology research listed only one ongoing study on asbestos-related cancers from a developing country (Turkey), not including Eastern Europe or the Soviet Union
  • As of 1991, only 11 countries had ratified the ILO asbestos convention
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that implementing the preventive measures advocated by the ILO and other organizations is essential if a worldwide catastrophe of asbestos-related health effects is to be avoided
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors did not determine whether asbestos-related diseases are regularly covered by the workers' compensation laws in the surveyed countries

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Asbestos Bodies, Brake Lining, Asbestos Exposure.

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