Asbestos's sorrowful legacy: a photoessay

Our plain-English summary of Asbestos's sorrowful legacy: a photoessay, by H. Du Plessis (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2003).

The study

• Author: H. Du Plessis
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2003;9(3):236-43
• Type of article: Case report
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was a photoessay by one author, not a research study. It described no research methods or study data; besides one unsourced estimate, its figures were mostly the ages of the people pictured. The author proposed an exhibit to Solicitors for Human Rights in London to raise public awareness of asbestos victims in Prieska, South Africa, and completed it in less than three days. The opening stated, without giving a source, that an estimated one in eight deaths in Prieska is caused by mesothelioma. Most photographs showed residents of Prieska and Koegas in the Northern Cape, usually captioned with a name, age and diagnosis (mesothelioma or asbestosis) and often a first-person statement. Two people captioned with mesothelioma said they never worked at a mine but lived near a mine dump or walked past the mill. Several people captioned with asbestosis described starting work as children or working as sample boys, and said they were never warned. Other pictures showed unrehabilitated mine dumps. The author's text stated that key decisions were made in Britain by Cape Plc.

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: photoessay: photographs with first-person captions and short text, made as an awareness exhibit; not a research study
• Who was studied: Asbestos victims and residents of Prieska and Koegas, Northern Cape, South Africa, photographed for an exhibit. Most captions gave a name, age and diagnosis. No sample size or study period was given.
• Exposure: Occupational and environmental exposure from asbestos mining and milling associated with Cape Plc at Prieska (crushing mill) and Koegas (mines), including living near mine dumps and tailings. No fiber type was named in readable text.
• Main results:
  • The essay stated, without citing a source, that an estimated one in eight deaths in Prieska is caused by mesothelioma.
  • Stef Jansen, 44, captioned with mesothelioma, said in the caption that they never worked at a mine but lived near a mine dump in Prieska.
  • Bettie Jacobs, 75, captioned with mesothelioma, said in the caption that they never worked at the mine but walked past the mill.
  • Hendrik Springbok, 58, captioned with asbestosis, said in the caption that they worked as a sample boy and were never warned or given protective clothing.
• The authors' conclusion: The author's text stated that although the victims and the mining were in South Africa, the key decisions were made in Britain by Cape Plc.

Mines named here

Asbestos mines this study is about. Each mine's page says who ran it, when it worked, and what it produced.

• Koegas, Cape Province

All asbestos mines

Topics

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

Related studies

• Photoessay. Workers' exposures to asbestos in Brazil — (1999)
• The long-lasting legacy of industrial carcinogens: the lesson of asbestos. Irving J. Selikoff Memorial Lecture, 1995 — C. Maltoni (1997)
• Case-control study of mesothelioma in South Africa — D. Rees, J.E. Myers, et al. (1999)
• South African experience with asbestos related environmental mesothelioma: is asbestos fiber type important? — N. White, G. Nelson, et al. (2008)
• Scientific controversy and asbestos: making disease invisible — L. Braun, A. Greene, et al. (2003)
• Libby: the long legacy of a public health disaster — A. van Dorn (2017)

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