ILO to promote global asbestos ban

Our plain-English summary of ILO to promote global asbestos ban, by R. O'Neill (New Solutions, 2006).

The study

• Author: R. O'Neill
• Journal: New Solutions
• Published: 2006;16(4):449-53
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The International Labour Office (ILO) is to pursue a global ban on asbestos, the world's biggest ever industrial killer. The landmark decision came with the adoption of a resolution on 14 June 2006 at the ILO conference in Geneva and followed a high level union campaign. Rory O'Neill asked Jukka Takala, director of ILO's Safe Work program, what ILO will now do to help make the world asbestos-free.

In plain English

This article is not a research study. It is an interview, reprinted from Hazards Magazine, in which the author asked Jukka Takala, director of the International Labour Office's SafeWork program, how the ILO would act on an asbestos resolution adopted on 14 June 2006 at the ILO conference in Geneva. Takala said some two million tons of asbestos were produced and used worldwide each year. Takala also cited an estimate, without a source, that every 170 tons of asbestos is responsible for one mesothelioma and two lung cancers. Takala called asbestos the most important single factor causing death and disability at work, with some 100,000 fatalities a year. Takala set an aim of raising the number of countries that have eliminated future asbestos use from 40 to at least 100 within ten years, and said there is no 'safe use' of asbestos. The article reprints the full resolution. It calls on the ILO to promote eliminating future use of all forms of asbestos, and it says the Asbestos Convention 1986 (No. 162) should not be used to justify continued use.

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: Interview (news/policy article), reprinted from Hazards Magazine, with the full text of the 2006 ILO asbestos resolution; not a research study
• Who was studied: No study population. The interviewee was Jukka Takala, director of the ILO SafeWork program. The subject was the resolution adopted on 14 June 2006 at the ILO conference in Geneva.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general. The resolution notes that all forms, including chrysotile, are classified as known human carcinogens, and it names removal, demolition, building maintenance, ship breaking and waste handling as risky activities.
• Main results:
  • Takala stated that some two million tons of asbestos are produced and used worldwide every year.
  • Takala cited an estimate, with no source given, that every 170 tons of asbestos is responsible for one mesothelioma and two lung cancers.
  • Takala called asbestos the most important single factor causing death and disability at work, with some 100,000 fatalities a year.
  • The resolution states that an estimated 100,000 workers die every year from diseases caused by asbestos exposure.
  • Takala set the task of increasing the number of countries that have eliminated future asbestos use from the present 40 to at least 100 in the coming ten years.
  • Takala said an efficient asbestos mine can produce 200,000 tons with a work force of fewer than 1,000 workers.
  • Takala stated that there is no safe use of asbestos.
  • Takala said the ILO is only an observer and has only an indirect possibility to influence the Rotterdam Convention PIC procedure on chrysotile.
  • The resolution states that the Asbestos Convention 1986 (No. 162) should not be used to justify or endorse continued asbestos use.
• The authors' conclusion: The resolution states that eliminating future asbestos use, and identifying and properly managing asbestos now in place, are the most effective means to protect workers. Takala said the process should be speeded up to reduce the number of future victims.

Related studies

• The International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) and its influence on international organizations — N.A. Ashford, B. Castleman, et al. (2002)
• Asbestos: promotion or prohibition? — C.E. Forget (1987)
• Controversies at international organizations over asbestos industry influence — B.I. Castleman (2001)
• Global asbestos justice: South African asbestos victims win right to sue Cape PLC in U.K. courts — L. Kazan-Allen (2001)
• Canadian asbestos: a global concern — L. Kazan-Allen (2004)
• WTO confidential: the case of asbestos. World Trade Organization — B. Castleman (2002)

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