Heroism in occupational health

Our plain-English summary of Heroism in occupational health, by B. Castleman (International Journal of Health Services, 2001).

The study

• Author: B. Castleman
• Journal: International Journal of Health Services
• Published: 2001;31(3):669-72
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The author reports on an informative and confrontational discussion at the Indian Association of Occupational Health conference in New Delhi in February 2001. The president of the association, Dr. T. K. Joshi, took a strong and principled stand against the asbestos industry and many of his colleagues in maintaining his position that the use of asbestos should be banned in India.

In plain English

This article is not a research study. It is a first-person report and commentary by an environmental consultant on a ban-asbestos session at the Indian Association of Occupational Health (IAOH) conference, New Delhi, February 2001. The author wrote that attendees were mostly company doctors. One doctor said Indian asbestos was not harmful. Another said asbestos use at an asbestos-cement plant was controlled, and Dr. Arthur Frank replied that even if true, exposures during use of the products could not be controlled. The author called another claim, that Indian construction workers use handsaws and create virtually no respirable dust, one of many errors of fact. The author reported that IAOH president Dr. T. K. Joshi refused demands from more than 20 members to issue a press "correction" of the position that asbestos should be banned in India. The article stated that India mined 20,000 metric tons of tremolite asbestos yearly and imported over 85,000 metric tons of chrysotile annually in many years. It said bans were in effect in 21 countries. The author concluded that Dr. Joshi needs and deserves continuing support. The article presented no original health data or statistical analysis.

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 opinion commentary (not a research study)
• Who was studied: Attendees, mostly company doctors, at the Indian Association of Occupational Health conference in New Delhi, February 1 to 4, 2001
• Exposure: Asbestos use in India, including locally mined tremolite asbestos and imported chrysotile asbestos used in asbestos-cement products
• Main results:
  • At the end of the conference, more than 20 IAOH members demanded that Dr. Joshi issue a press correction saying IAOH did not believe asbestos should be banned. Dr. Joshi refused, and none of the doctors present stepped forward to write the press release.
  • One industry doctor insisted that Indian asbestos was not harmful.
  • One participant said that asbestos use was controlled at the asbestos-cement plant that participant was associated with. Dr. Arthur Frank replied that even if this were true, controlling exposures during use of the products was impossible.
  • Another participant claimed that Indian construction workers use handsaws and create virtually no respirable dust. The author described this and other claims as errors of fact.
  • India imported over 85,000 metric tons of chrysotile asbestos annually in many years.
  • The author stated that asbestos bans were in effect in 21 countries, most recently Chile.
  • Very few compensation cases had been referred to the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH). This was partly because employers were not directed to pay for the medical evaluations.
  • Dr. S. K. Dave of NIOH reported consistent findings from 30 years of NIOH visits to Indian asbestos mines and factories. The article does not give specific figures.
  • Everest Eternit was converting three plants from asbestos to PVA (polyvinyl alcohol) cement.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that Dr. Joshi needs and deserves continuing support and respect for the stand taken against asbestos.

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