Building a future without asbestos

Our plain-English summary of Building a future without asbestos, by B. Castleman (New Solutions, 1995).

The study

• Author: B. Castleman
• Journal: New Solutions
• Published: 1995;5(2):58-63
• Cited by: 1 article, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was not a research study. It was a policy commentary presented at a 1994 conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, called "Asbestos Controlled Use or Banishment." The author argued for replacing asbestos, with a focus on Brazil. The arguments drew on other published reports, letters and company documents rather than new data. The author reported that Brazil's per capita asbestos use, about 1,400 g per person per year, was more than 10 times that of the United States. Asbestos-cement sheets and pipe made up 85 percent of Brazil's use. Cited sources described exposures as high as 250 fibers per cubic centimeter when asbestos-cement was sawn on construction sites. They also described exposures up to 26 fibers per cubic centimeter among workers wearing asbestos "protective clothing." German authorities were cited as attributing seven percent of documented mesothelioma cases to wearing asbestos textile clothing. The author described substitutes such as wood pulp and sisal, industry efforts to avoid warning labels, and a dispute over a World Health Organization report on chrysotile. The author called for phase-outs, taxes on the asbestos industry, an end to subsidies, and compensation paid by companies.

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: Policy commentary (conference presentation), not an original research study; it draws on cited reports, correspondence and company documents
• Who was studied: No study population. The paper discusses asbestos use and asbestos workers mainly in Brazil, with comparisons to the United States and other countries, up to 1993-1994
• Exposure: Asbestos in general. Products discussed are asbestos-cement (A-C) construction sheets and pipe, brake linings, asbestos textiles and protective clothing, and asbestos insulation. Chrysotile is named in the discussion of the IPCS report.
• Main results:
  • The author reported Brazil's per capita asbestos consumption as approximately 1,400 g/year per person, more than 10 times as high as in the U.S.
  • Citing an industry source, the author stated that exposures when A-C products are cut with saws on construction sites may be as high as 250 f/cc
  • Asbestos levels in drinking water from A-C cisterns in the U.S. Virgin Islands were reported at more than 500 million fibers per liter (from another source)
  • German authorities (cited study) attributed seven percent of documented mesothelioma cases to wearing protective clothing made of asbestos textiles
  • Canadian researchers (cited study) found exposures of workers wearing asbestos protective clothing ranged up to 26 f/cc, exceeding the U.S. short-term limit of 1 f/cc
  • The occupational exposure limit permitted in Brazil in 1986 was 4 f/cc, 20 times the U.S. daily average limit
  • Dr. Rene Mendes (as reported by the author) described about 30,000 Brazilian asbestos industry workers, among whom asbestosis was being diagnosed five to 10 years after entering the industry
  • World asbestos use fell from 4.1 to 4.4 million metric tons per year through most of the 1980s to 2.8 million metric tons in 1993 (U.S. Bureau of Mines data)
  • The author reported that no asbestos mining company placed health warning labels on sacks of asbestos fiber before 1969, and that many producers held back even then
  • The author reported that NIOSH announced it would cease participation in all work with the IPCS over the chrysotile report panel
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that where protection from asbestos hazards has been most successful, it has resulted from an informed citizenry, an active labor movement, and collective efforts by leaders in science, medicine, politics, civil service and law. The author also called for government phase-outs, industry taxes, ending subsidies, and compensation by companies.

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