Banning asbestos in Asia: campaigns and strategies by the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV)

Our plain-English summary of Banning asbestos in Asia: campaigns and strategies by the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV), by S. Pandita (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2006).

The study

• Author: S. Pandita
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2006;12(3):248-53
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand are among the largest consumers of asbestos. Because markets in the West are dwindling, asbestos is heavily promoted in Asia. In spite of widespread usage, asbestos-related diseases are surprisingly few and reported cases of mesothelioma are rare in Asia except in Japan, Korea, and Singapore. The problem lies in diagnosis. Most of the asbestos-related diseases are not diagnosed in Asia and thus do not appear in government statistics. This deadly substance is killing workers. Unless drastic action is taken to stop its use, Asian workers as well as the general population will pay a heavy price.

In plain English

This article is a commentary, not a research study. The author, from the Asia Monitor Resource Center in Hong Kong, presented it at the Global Asbestos Congress in Tokyo in 2004. It described asbestos use in Asia and the campaign to ban asbestos run by the Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV), a network of victims' groups, labor NGOs, trade unions and labor activists. Citing other sources, the author wrote that Asian countries accounted for about 60% of global asbestos consumption in 2000, mostly chrysotile used in construction. In April 2004 the organizers visited an asbestos roofing-sheet factory about two hours' drive from Hanoi, Vietnam. There, about 100 workers used no proper protective equipment. The author wrote that asbestos-related disease goes largely undiagnosed in Asia. Thailand, with the highest per-capita use in Asia, had not reported a single case, while Japan reported 772 deaths from mesothelioma in 2001. The article set out ANROAV's plans: identifying and organizing victims, building a database of doctors and lawyers, an information campaign, and a complete ban. The author concluded that decisive steps toward a complete ban are needed.

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: Commentary / advocacy paper describing asbestos use in Asia and a campaign network's strategies; presented at a congress; not an original research study
• Who was studied: Asian countries and workers generally, and the ANROAV network of victims' groups, labor NGOs, trade unions and labor activists from 13 Asian countries and territories; includes one factory visited in Vietnam in April 2004
• Exposure: Asbestos, mainly chrysotile, used mostly in construction (asbestos cement, pipes); also mining, asbestos cement plants, power plants and ship-breaking described
• Main results:
  • Citing other sources, the author reported that Asian countries accounted for about 60% of global asbestos consumption in 2000
  • At a Vietnamese asbestos-corrugated sheet factory visited in April 2004, about 100 workers over three shifts worked on an old production line covered in asbestos dust, without proper protective equipment
  • At the same factory, workers did not use proper protective equipment, and some covered their faces with a cloth
  • The author stated that Thailand, with the highest per-capita asbestos consumption in Asia, had not reported a single case of asbestos-related disease
  • The author stated that reported deaths from mesothelioma in Japan in 2001 were 772
  • The author stated that many pneumoconiosis victims in Asia are wrongly diagnosed as having tuberculosis, or are underdiagnosed
  • The author stated that China had compensated an aggregate of 4,300 cases of asbestos-related disease over the past 40 years
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that decisive steps toward a complete ban on asbestos are needed, or many more lives will be lost before a ban is achieved

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Naturally occurring asbestos: a recurring public policy challenge — R.J. Lee, B.R. Strohmeier, et al. (2008)
• A cross-country comparative overview of the asbestos situation in ten Asian countries — K. Takahashi, A. Karjalainen (2003)
• Collegium Ramazzini statement on the Tokyo Declaration banning asbestos — P.J. Landrigan, M. Soffritti (2005)
• Protest and survive, the U.K. Construction Safety Campaign: a case study of workers' and victims' family action and legal and regulatory inaction on construction health and safety — M. Holder, T. O'Brien (2007)
• Asbestos law: victims' rights and industry's reaction — K. Asch (1979)
• Global asbestos justice: South African asbestos victims win right to sue Cape PLC in U.K. courts — L. Kazan-Allen (2001)

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