Impact of Naturally Occurring Asbestos on Asbestos Ban: Regulations and Experience of the Republic of Korea

Our plain-English summary of Impact of Naturally Occurring Asbestos on Asbestos Ban: Regulations and Experience of the Republic of Korea, by J. Kwon (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022).

The study

• Author: J. Kwon
• Journal: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Published: 2022;19(2)
• Type of article: Review
• Cited by: 7 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

This review examined the main issues debated in Korea regarding the production and use of materials containing naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) as impurities, and investigated the impacts of these debates on the asbestos ban, as well as the future implications. In Korea, incidents associated with the production and use of NOA-contaminated talc powders, construction rocks, serpentinites, and dolomite rocks raised public concern and led to accelerating the ban on asbestos. The main controversies concern policies on appropriate asbestos content limits, whether materials containing a trace amount of NOA should be banned, and the control of materials with high human exposure risk. To address recurring controversies, the implementation of preventive measures to manage elongated mineral particles and the use of transmission electron microscopy for more sensitive analysis need to be discussed, along with reaching social agreement on the controversial policies. To minimize the potential exposure to asbestos that may occur during the production and use of industrial minerals in the future, it is necessary to apply occupational exposure control measures and monitor the health effects of the relevant population groups. These national policies on NOA should be prepared based on close collaboration and discussion with policymakers, industry stakeholders, and related academic experts.

In plain English

This review, by a single author at Korea's Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, examined how materials containing naturally occurring asbestos (NOA) as impurities affected Korea's asbestos ban. It traced Korean rules from the May 1997 ban on crocidolite and amosite at worksites to the ban on all forms of asbestos that became effective in April 2016. It then described four incidents. In 2009, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reported asbestos in 11 baby powder products made with contaminated talc, and it banned the sale of five cosmetic products and 1122 pharmaceuticals. Also in 2009, construction rocks from a quarry near an abandoned asbestos mine were sold to more than 210 government-ordered construction sites. In 2011, chrysotile-contaminated serpentinite was found in steel mills, baseball fields and school playgrounds. In 2020, tremolite was found in mortar made from dolomite. Citing an earlier study, the review reported a maximum airborne level of 0.076 f/cc for workers handling serpentinite whose asbestos content was far below 1%. The author concluded that asbestos bans must consider NOA in rocks, not only intentionally added asbestos.

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: Review (narrative policy review of Korean regulations and NOA incidents)
• Who was studied: Republic of Korea: national asbestos regulations from 1997 to 2016 and NOA contamination incidents from 2009 to 2020 involving consumer products, construction sites, steel mills, sports fields, schools and public buildings
• Exposure: Naturally occurring asbestos as an impurity in talc powders (tremolite or anthophyllite), construction rocks (tremolite and actinolite), serpentinite (chrysotile) and dolomite used in mortar (tremolite)
• Main results:
  • Korea's asbestos regulations began with a May 1997 ban on crocidolite and amosite at worksites. The ban on all forms of asbestos became effective in April 2016, although the author states it was practically in place from January 2009.
  • The April 2016 date for the ban on all forms of asbestos and asbestos-containing products
  • In April 2009, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reported asbestos in 11 baby powder products on the market. The products had been made with NOA-contaminated talc.
  • After finding that contaminated talc had been supplied to more than 300 companies, the ministry banned the sale of five cosmetic products and 1122 pharmaceuticals and ordered recalls.
  • In February 2009, an NGO revealed that construction rocks from a quarry near an abandoned asbestos mine in Chungcheongbuk-do had been sold to more than 210 government-ordered construction sites. A later Ministry of Environment survey found asbestiform tremolite widely distributed in rocks and soils in that area.
  • In 2011, chrysotile-contaminated serpentinite was reported in use in three steel mills.
  • Also in 2011, contaminated serpentinite was found in five professional baseball fields and eight school playgrounds.
  • In 2020, tremolite asbestos was found in mortar made from NOA-containing dolomite and used in new elementary schools and public buildings. Most of these mortar products were not banned because less than 1% tremolite was detected.
  • Citing an earlier study (reference 43), the review reported that in 2011 serpentinite from Korean serpentine mines had an asbestos content far below 1%. Even so, workers' maximum airborne asbestos exposure was 0.076 f/cc, which was 76% of the exposure limit.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that asbestos bans must consider rocks unintentionally containing NOA as well as intentionally used asbestos. The author called for discussion of extending the ban to elongate mineral particles and of using transmission electron microscopy for more sensitive analysis. The author also called for exposure controls, health checks and continued surveillance of exposed populations.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: naturally occurring asbestos (NOA), Talc, Serpentinite, Dolomite, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Occupational Exposure.

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