The JPC-SE position statement on asbestos: a long-overdue appeal by epidemiologists to ban asbestos worldwide and end related global environmental injustice

Our plain-English summary of The JPC-SE position statement on asbestos: a long-overdue appeal by epidemiologists to ban asbestos worldwide and end related global environmental injustice, by W.K. Al-Delaimy (Environmental Health Perspectives, 2013).

The study

• Author: W.K. Al-Delaimy
• Journal: Environmental Health Perspectives
• Published: 2013;121(5):a144-5
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This article is an editorial, not a research study, and it reports no new data. The author commented on a 2012 position statement by the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology (JPC-SE), a consortium of epidemiologic societies, which called for a worldwide ban on asbestos use. The author noted that the statement was endorsed by 10 member organizations of the JPC-SE. Citing other sources, the editorial stated that asbestos has long been known to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. It repeated a World Health Organization estimate that 107,000 people die each year from occupational asbestos exposure and that more than 125 million people are exposed. It also quoted the 2009 International Agency for Research on Cancer monograph, which found sufficient evidence in humans that all forms of asbestos cause cancer. The author argued that asbestos use was increasing in middle- and low-income countries, called this global environmental injustice, and noted that Canada allowed asbestos exports until September 2012. The author concluded that epidemiologists must do more than publish papers and must make information accessible to the public.

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: Editorial (opinion piece) commenting on the JPC-SE position statement calling for a global asbestos ban; no original research
• Who was studied: No study population. The editorial discusses the 2012 position statement of the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology calling for a global ban on asbestos use.
• Exposure: Asbestos in general. No exposure was measured. The editorial refers to all forms of asbestos (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite, citing IARC) and notes that Canada was a major producer of chrysotile asbestos.
• Main results:
  • The editorial stated that the JPC-SE position statement was endorsed by 10 member organizations of the JPC-SE.
  • Citing other sources, the editorial stated that asbestos has been known for decades to cause lung cancer and mesothelioma.
  • Citing a WHO 2010 estimate (not this article's own finding), the editorial stated that 107,000 people die each year from occupational exposure to asbestos.
  • Citing the same WHO 2010 source, the editorial stated that more than 125 million people are exposed to asbestos occupationally.
  • The editorial quoted the 2009 IARC Monograph as finding sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of all forms of asbestos (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophyllite).
  • The author stated that asbestos use is increasing in middle- and low-income countries, which the author attributed to lobbying by the asbestos industry.
  • The author described the situation as a case of global environmental injustice.
  • The editorial stated that Canada discouraged asbestos-containing products at home but allowed their export until September 2012.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded that it is not enough for epidemiologists to publish papers in scientific journals. In the author's view, they must also make policy-relevant information accessible to and usable by the general public.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Appeal.

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