Canadian asbestos: a global concern

Our plain-English summary of Canadian asbestos: a global concern, by L. Kazan-Allen (International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, 2004).

The study

• Author: L. Kazan-Allen
• Journal: International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
• Published: 2004;10(2):121-43
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The impact of the chrysotile (white asbestos) industry at home and abroad was the focus of the first independent conference on asbestos to be held in Canada. In September 2003, Canadian asbestos victims and international experts met to examine a wide range of issues on Capital Hill, Ottawa; victims and their relatives spoke eloquently of the devious means used by asbestos stakeholders to maintain control of the national asbestos agenda. At the conclusion of the conference, Ban Asbestos Canada, a campaigning group to assist victims and raise awareness of Canada's tragic asbestos legacy, was formed.

In plain English

This article is the author's report on a three-day conference, "Canadian Asbestos: A Global Concern," held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa from September 12, 2003, with 100 delegates. The author was one of its organizers. It is not a research study. It summarized talks by Canadian and international speakers, asbestos victims and their families on the mining, export and use of Canadian chrysotile; most of its figures came from those speakers and the work they cited. One talk quoted a 1987 study of 152 Holmes Foundry workers in Sarnia, Ontario: four lung cancer deaths against 0.66 expected, and two mesothelioma deaths. A Quebec public health epidemiologist reported that 832 mesotheliomas were diagnosed in Quebec in 1982-1996, compared with 261 compensated in 1967-1997. A Peruvian speaker reported that 60% of 197 examined current and former asbestos workers had asbestosis. Delegates unanimously adopted a resolution urging Canada to join a global ban, and Ban Asbestos Canada was formed. The author concluded that the conference's importance went beyond the factual information presented.

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: Conference report and commentary by one of the organizers (not an original research study)
• Who was studied: Speakers and delegates (100) at a three-day conference in Ottawa, September 2003. They included Canadian scientists, trade unionists, public health workers and asbestos victims and their families, and speakers from India, Lebanon, Peru, Japan and other countries.
• Exposure: Chrysotile (white asbestos) mined in Canada and exported abroad. Talks also covered occupational, environmental and household exposures, including the Holmes Foundry insulation plant in Sarnia and asbestos-cement products.
• Main results:
  • A speaker quoted a 1987 Ontario study of 152 Holmes Foundry workers (followed 1956-1974). It reported a sixfold increase in lung cancer mortality (4 deaths observed, 0.66 expected), a seven-fold increase in respiratory disease mortality (3 observed, 0.42 expected), and 2 mesothelioma deaths. These are that study's findings as presented at the conference, not new research in this article.
  • A Quebec public health epidemiologist reported that women in Quebec were twice as likely to contract mesothelioma as Canadian women generally. The same speaker reported that mesothelioma incidence among Quebec men was more than four times that of Quebec women.
  • The same speaker compared 832 mesotheliomas diagnosed in Quebec (1982-1996) with 261 compensated by the Workers' Compensation Board (1967-1997).
  • A speaker from Peru reported that in 2000, medical examinations of 197 current and former asbestos workers found that 60% had asbestosis.
  • A speaker from Japan reported that in 2001 Japan imported 79,463 t of chrysotile, of which 55.6% (44,203 t) came from Canada.
  • A speaker from India reported that 1997 government surveys recorded airborne levels of between 2 and 488 fibers per cc in occupational settings in India.
  • Delegates unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the Canadian government to join the global ban on asbestos use and importation.
  • Ban Asbestos Canada, a campaigning group, was formed at the end of the conference.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that the conference's importance went beyond the factual information presented, because it enabled some Canadians to speak publicly about asbestos for the first time.

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• Asbestos dispatches — L. Kazan-Allen (2004)
• Asbestos banned in Argentina — E.J. Rodriguez (2004)
• The phase-out of asbestos in the Australian manufacturing environment — D.A. Vallance (2004)
• Asbestos production increases despite WHO opposition — T. Burki (2009)
• Lung cancer incidence in Canadian petroleum workers — A.R. Schnatter, M.J. Nicolich, et al. (2012)
• How Canada Changed from Exporting Asbestos to Banning Asbestos: The Challenges That Had to Be Overcome — K. Ruff (2017)

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