"Unleashed on an Unsuspecting World": The Asbestos Information Association and Its Role in Perpetuating a National Epidemic

Our plain-English summary of "Unleashed on an Unsuspecting World": The Asbestos Information Association and Its Role in Perpetuating a National Epidemic, by G. Markowitz, D. Rosner (American Journal of Public Health, 2016).

The study

• Authors: G. Markowitz, D. Rosner
• Journal: American Journal of Public Health
• Published: 2016;106(5):834-40
• Cited by: 4 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

Abstract

Examining previously underused corporate documents, we revisit the story of the Asbestos Information Association/North America, an industry trade group that sought in the early 1970s to counteract the growing public attention to, and government regulation of, asbestos as a serious threat to workers and consumers. From the mid-1960s through the early 1970s, according to its own spokesperson, asbestos was exposed as "probably the most hazardous industrial material ever unleashed on an unsuspecting world." In retrospect, thousands of lives may have been saved if the Asbestos Information Association had publicly acknowledged this earlier.

In plain English

This historical article examined lawsuit-released corporate documents about the Asbestos Information Association/North America (AIA). The AIA, an industry trade group formed in December 1970, grew out of Johns-Manville's public relations work with Hill & Knowlton, the authors reported. In 1971 it declined to publicly condemn asbestos in imported women's coats. Its executive secretary told the board this would give tacit approval to the idea that even slight exposure can be hazardous. A 1971 AIA pamphlet cited studies of occupationally exposed workers to claim that low to moderate exposure did not increase disease rates. The authors wrote that the existing literature indicated the opposite. The AIA opposed including the word "cancer" in warning labels. In a private 1973 address, the executive secretary said the medical literature was full of solid evidence linking asbestos to disease. He cited an AIA-commissioned survey finding only 22% of Americans aware of asbestos health hazards. He claimed OSHA's 1972 standard accepted the industry position totally on nine of eleven parts. The authors concluded that thousands of lives may have been saved had the AIA acknowledged asbestos's hazards earlier.

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: Historical analysis of corporate documents obtained through the discovery process in asbestos lawsuits
• Who was studied: The Asbestos Information Association/North America (AIA/NA), an asbestos industry trade group established in December 1970. The article focused on the early 1970s, with documents continuing into 1976 and later.
• Exposure: Not an exposure study. The article concerns how the industry described the hazards of asbestos used in household and industrial products, and how it responded to federal exposure limits and warning labels.
• Main results:
  • The AIA was formed out of Johns-Manville's public relations efforts together with the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton.
  • In 1971 the AIA declined to publicly condemn asbestos in imported women's coats. Its executive secretary told the board that condemning it would give tacit approval to the view that even slight exposure can be hazardous.
  • An AIA pamphlet from about October 1971 cited long-term studies of occupationally exposed workers to claim that low to moderate levels of exposure did not lead to an increased rate of disease.
  • The authors stated that the pamphlet's claim ran against the literature accumulated since the early 20th century, which indicated the opposite.
  • The AIA objected to an OSHA Advisory Committee recommendation that the asbestos warning label include the word "cancer".
  • In a private 1973 address to the Asbestos Textile Institute, AIA executive secretary Swetonic said the medical literature was full of solid evidence linking asbestos to disease.
  • An AIA-commissioned survey of more than 2,000 Americans reported that only 22% were aware of asbestos health hazards. Of these, 80% considered it a hazard only to those occupationally exposed, a result Swetonic called reassuring.
  • Swetonic claimed that, of 11 major parts of the 1972 OSHA standard, the industry position was accepted totally on nine, about 50 per cent on a tenth, and rejected on one.
  • In 1976, AIA vice-president Gabrielson said the industry could not go to zero risk. He admitted the industry could not prove that the two-fiber level protected workers, particularly in the case of mesothelioma.
  • The industry began hiring researchers to argue that the main threat came from crocidolite and amosite, not chrysotile.
  • In the 1990s Swetonic described asbestos as probably the most hazardous industrial material ever unleashed on an unsuspecting world.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, in retrospect, thousands of lives may have been saved if Swetonic and the AIA had acknowledged asbestos's hazards earlier.

Related studies

• Dust diseases and the legacy of corporate manipulation of science and law — D. Egilman, T. Bird, et al. (2014)
• Corporate corruption of medical literature: asbestos studies concealed by W.R. Grace & Co — D. Egilman, W. Wallace, et al. (1998)
• WTO confidential: the case of asbestos. World Trade Organization — B. Castleman (2002)
• How conflicted authors undermine the World Health Organization (WHO) campaign to stop all use of asbestos: spotlight on studies showing that chrysotile is carcinogenic and facilitates other non-cancer asbestos-related diseases — X. Baur, C.L. Soskolne, et al. (2015)
• Pleural malignant mesothelioma epidemic: incidence, modalities of asbestos exposure and occupations involved from the Italian National Register — A. Marinaccio, A. Binazzi, et al. (2012)
• Asbestos and Asbestos-related Diseases in Vietnam: In reference to the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization National Asbestos Profile — V.H. Pham, T.N. Lan Tran, et al. (2013)

Browse more research in American Journal of Public Health, or return to medical research.