Statement in response to asbestos industry efforts to prevent a ban on asbestos in Pakistan: chrysotile asbestos use is not safe and must be banned

Our plain-English summary of Statement in response to asbestos industry efforts to prevent a ban on asbestos in Pakistan: chrysotile asbestos use is not safe and must be banned, by G. Aguilar Madrid, M. Beaudry, W. Bell, et al (Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, 2013).

The study

• Authors: G. Aguilar Madrid, M. Beaudry, W. Bell, D. Bowes, J. Brophy, A. Burdorf, C. Carlsten, B. Castleman, S. Chaturvedi, M.E. Conti, L. Corra, H.R. Corrêa Filho, C.F. Cranor, E. Cullen, A. Dalvie, R.C. Dickson, A. Digon, D. Egilman, C. Eisner Falvo, E. Fischer, A.L. Frank, E. Frank, D. Gee, F. Giannasi, B.D. Goldstein, M. Greenberg, T.L. Guidotti, W.A. Harris, M. Hindry, A. Houlson, H. Hu, J. Huff, P.F. Infante, J. Thambyappa, C.A. Juarez Perez, M.F. Jeebhay, T.K. Joshi, M. Keith, J.R. Keyserlingk, K. Khatter, D. King, N. Kodeih, J. Kristensen, V. Kulsomboon, P.J. Landrigan, C.W. Lee, J. Leigh, R.A. Lemen, A. Lippman, L. London, R. Matzopoulos, J. McCulloch, M.A. McDiarmid, R. Mehrdad, D. Mirabelli, H. Moshammer, É. Notebaert, Z. Nycz, A.F. Oberta, J. O'Connor, R. O'Neill, P. Orris, D. Ozonoff, D. Paek, C. Rickard, E.J. Rodriguez, J. Sass, K.E. Sentes, I.M. Simpson, M. Soffritti, C.L. Soskolne, S.P. Sparling, J. Spiegel, K. Takahashi, T.K. Takaro, B. Terracini, A. Thébaud-Mony, I. Trosic, F. Turcotte, C. Vakil, A. Van Der Walt, Y.R. Waterman, A. Watterson, D.H. Wegman, L.S. Welch, S.H. Weiss, R. Winston, A. Yassi
• Journal: Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health
• Published: 2013;68(4):243-9
• Type of article: Letter
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Summary of the article

This letter, dated February 22, 2013 and signed by scientists and organisations from many countries, responded to a January 31, 2013 letter from the Chairman of the International Chrysotile Association (I.C.A.). The I.C.A. letter opposed a January 2013 recommendation by the Pakistan National Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Resource Development to ban the import and use of asbestos. The authors disputed six I.C.A. claims. They stated that safe use of chrysotile asbestos had never been documented, noting that Quebec's public health directors warned that safe use could not be achieved and that Quebec's "safe use" policy had failed. They cited a WHO figure of 107,000 occupational deaths yearly from asbestos and WHO's position that there is no safe exposure level to chrysotile. They reported that substitutes were available, with a purchase price difference of 2 to 5% reported in Thailand, and that US asbestos use fell from 350,000 tonnes in 1980 to 961 tonnes in 2011. They stated that the I.C.A. had funded a study by David Bernstein that it cited, without disclosing this. They also stated that studies from France, the US and Japan found short chrysotile fibres to be the most common fibre in the pleura of mesothelioma cases. The signers condemned the I.C.A.'s statements as misinformation and urged the Government of Pakistan to ban the import and use of asbestos.

PubMed has no abstract for this study, and the article doesn't print one. We wrote this summary from the full article with the help of AI. It is not the authors' wording.

In plain English

This is a letter to the editor, not a research study. It was signed by many individual scientists, physicians and organisations from many countries. It responded to a letter dated January 31, 2013, from the International Chrysotile Association to an adviser at Pakistan's Sustainable Development Policy Institute, opposing a proposed ban on asbestos in Pakistan. The signers disputed the Association's claims that chrysotile asbestos can be used safely. They relied on other sources rather than new data. These included the World Health Organization's figure of 107,000 occupational deaths a year from asbestos exposure, and a Quebec report that asbestos-related diseases represent 70% of deaths caused by occupational diseases there. They also cited a fall in United States asbestos use from 350,000 tonnes in 1980 to 961 tonnes in 2011. A Thai manufacturer was quoted as saying the purchase price difference between asbestos and non-asbestos roofing products was only 2 to 5%. The signers stated that the Association had funded a study it promoted without disclosing this. They urged the Government of Pakistan to ban the import and use of 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: Letter to the editor (a signed statement responding to an asbestos industry letter); no original research
• Who was studied: No study population. The letter responds to a January 31, 2013 letter from the International Chrysotile Association to Dr Mahmood A. Khwaja of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute of Pakistan. That letter opposed a January 2013 recommendation by the Pakistan National Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Resource Development to ban asbestos import and use.
• Exposure: Chrysotile asbestos in general, including chrysotile cement building materials
• Main results:
  • The letter states that the WHO cites 107,000 occupational deaths yearly from exposure to asbestos (a figure from the WHO, not from this letter).
  • The letter states that Quebec's Occupational Health & Safety Commission reports that asbestos-related diseases represent 70% of deaths caused by occupational diseases (in Quebec).
  • The letter states, citing the US Geological Survey, that the US used 350,000 tonnes of asbestos in 1980 and 961 tonnes in 2011, which is 0.3% of the 1980 figure.
  • The letter states that between 2000 and 2012 the number of countries banning asbestos tripled, from 18 to 54.
  • The letter quotes the managing director of Siam Fibre Cement, Thailand, as saying that the purchase price difference between asbestos and non-asbestos roofing products is only 2 to 5%.
  • The letter states that the International Chrysotile Association did not disclose that it had funded the Bernstein et al study it recommended to Pakistani officials.
  • The letter states that studies from France, the US and Japan (cited, not performed by the signers) show that the most common fibre found in the pleura of mesothelioma cases is short chrysotile fibres, sometimes the only fibre type found.
• The authors' conclusion: The signers stated that, in their view, the scientific consensus is that chrysotile asbestos causes harm to health and cannot be safely used. They urged the Government of Pakistan to ban the import and use of asbestos, as the National Assembly committee had recommended.

Topics

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

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

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• South Africa's export trade in asbestos: demise of an industry — J.S. Harington, N.D. McGlashan, et al. (2010)
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