The global health dimensions of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases

Our plain-English summary of The global health dimensions of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases, by C. Ramazzini (Journal of Occupational Health, 2016).

The study

• Author: C. Ramazzini
• Journal: Journal of Occupational Health
• Published: 2016;58(2):220-3
• Cited by: 13 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

The Collegium Ramazzini (CR) reaffirms its long-standing position that responsible public health action is to ban all extraction and use of asbestos, including chrysotile. This current statement updates earlier statements by the CR with a focus on global health dimensions of asbestos and asbestos-related diseases (ARDs). The ARD epidemic will likely not peak for at least a decade in most industrialized countries and for several decades in industrializing countries. Asbestos and ARDs will continue to present challenges in the arena of occupational medicine and public health as well as in clinical research and practice, and have thus emerged as a global health issue. Industrialized countries that have already gone through the transition to an asbestos ban have learned lessons and acquired know-how and capacity that could be of great value if deployed in industrializing countries embarking on the transition. The accumulated wealth of experience and technologies in industrialized countries should thus be shared internationally through global campaigns to eliminate ARDs.

PubMed has no abstract for this study. This is the authors' abstract, copied from the article.

In plain English

This article was a position statement from the Collegium Ramazzini, not a research study. It updated the group's earlier statements and reported no new research data. The authors restated their position that the responsible public health action is to ban all extraction and use of asbestos. Citing other sources, the statement reported several figures. Occupational asbestos exposure causes an estimated 107,000 deaths a year worldwide. Global use of chrysotile has stayed around two million metric tons a year, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. More than 50 countries have banned asbestos, but nine of the ten most populous countries have not. The authors said the epidemic of asbestos-related diseases will likely not peak for at least a decade in most industrialized countries. They noted that the death estimates come from different methods and are more likely too low than too high. The authors called for chrysotile to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention. They concluded that zero new cases should be the ultimate goal.

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: Position statement (policy statement) by a scientific society, updating its earlier statements; not an original study
• Who was studied: No study population; the statement addresses asbestos and asbestos-related diseases worldwide, in both industrialized and industrializing countries
• Exposure: All types of asbestos, including chrysotile, across mining, manufacture, use, repair, demolition and removal
• Main results:
  • Cited estimate (from WHO sources): occupational exposure to asbestos causes about 107,000 deaths each year worldwide, from asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis
  • Cited estimates for separate diseases: 41,000 deaths per year from asbestos-related lung cancer, 43,000 to 59,000 from mesothelioma, and 7,000 to 24,000 from asbestosis
  • Cited figure: global use of chrysotile has remained around two million metric tons per year in recent years
  • Most current chrysotile use is in low- and middle-income countries
  • More than 50 countries have banned all types of asbestos since Iceland's ban in 1983, but nine of the ten most populous countries have not adopted bans
  • The authors expected the epidemic of asbestos-related diseases not to peak for at least a decade in most industrialized countries, and for several decades in industrializing countries
  • The Collegium called on all Parties to the Rotterdam Convention to support listing chrysotile asbestos
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, because asbestos-related diseases are preventable, zero new cases should be the ultimate goal for both industrializing and industrialized countries
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The cited disease burden estimates were derived by different methods and are inconsistent with each other
  • The burden is more likely underestimated than overestimated, because asbestos-related diseases are underdiagnosed and underreported

Topics

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

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

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