Who is driving Mexico's asbestos policy?

Our plain-English summary of Who is driving Mexico's asbestos policy?, by L. Kazan-Allen (International Journal of Health Services, 2012).

The study

• Author: L. Kazan-Allen
• Journal: International Journal of Health Services
• Published: 2012;42(1):109-18
• Type of article: Comment
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

The publication of an article on the global asbestos industry in April 2011 provided a fitting reminder of the contradictory forces engaged in the international struggle over asbestos. In his essay, author James Rice wrote: "Asbestos is now widely recognized as an occupational hazard and an ambient environmental contaminant....[Nevertheless] production and consumption appear to have stabilized and, indeed, have been increasing in recent years". A pertinent question to ask, and one often posed by ban-asbestos campaigners, is, why has the developing world seen an escalation of asbestos consumption in the face of ever more knowledge about the deadly risks associated with its use? After all, human beings have an extraordinary capacity to learn from their mistakes. A child who has burned his finger on an open flame will be wary of repeating the experience. Why, then, do governments, consumers, workers, and members of the public refrain from acting, when the dangers of not doing so are so widely known? The answer is to be found in the complex interaction of asbestos industry stakeholders, government officials, diplomatic representatives, politicians, and professional advisors; the dirty dealings engaged in by the global band of asbestos profiteers rival anything you will have read about "Big Tobacco". A good place to begin the unraveling of the industry's machinations is Mexico.

In plain English

This article was a commentary, not a medical study, written by a self-described ban-asbestos campaigner. It examined why Mexico kept a 'controlled use' policy for chrysotile asbestos. It drew on trade statistics for 1999 to 2009 and on Canadian government e-mails from May 2001 to April 2002, released under Canada's Access to Information Act. The author reported that Canadian exports accounted for more than 40 percent of Mexican asbestos consumption from 1999 to 2009. Brazil's share of Mexican chrysotile imports rose from 13 percent in 1999 to 66 percent in 2009. Mexican consumption fell from 37,788 tonnes in 1999 to 13,631 tonnes in 2004, then rose by 26 percent. In one e-mail, Canadian embassy staff recorded that the Asbestos Institute had asked for their support in a possible advocacy campaign in Mexico. The author read the e-mails as showing Canadian officials working with industry interests to keep Mexico's policy unchanged, and concluded that a national ban was necessary. The author noted that much of the released material was heavily censored and that asbestos trade data contained discrepancies.

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: Commentary and policy analysis based on trade statistics, Canadian government e-mails obtained under the Access to Information Act, news reports and an interview; not an epidemiological study
• Who was studied: Mexico's asbestos market and the Canadian government, embassy and industry contacts involved with it; trade data for 1999 to 2009 and e-mails sent between May 1, 2001 and April 30, 2002
• Exposure: Trade in chrysotile asbestos to Mexico, mainly from Canada and Brazil, and the policy of 'controlled use of asbestos'
• Main results:
  • From 1999 to 2009, Canadian asbestos exports accounted for more than 40 percent of Mexican consumption (97,592 of 237,365 tonnes, 41%, in the appendix table)
  • Brazil's share of Mexican chrysotile imports rose from 13 percent in 1999 to 66 percent in 2009
  • Mexican annual asbestos consumption fell from 37,788 tonnes in 1999 to 13,631 tonnes in 2004, a fall of more than 64%
  • Mexican annual consumption rose by 26% after 2004
  • A May 2, 2001 Canadian embassy briefing recorded that the Asbestos Institute had asked the embassy to support a possible advocacy campaign in Mexico
  • From April 1, 2002, asbestos imports to Mexico required import permits
  • The author judged that the Asbestos Institute's figures for Canadian exports to Mexico did not match USGS consumption data
• The authors' conclusion: The author interpreted the e-mails as showing that Canadian civil servants and embassy staff worked with vested interests to preserve the status quo in Mexico. The author concluded that a national asbestos ban in Mexico was necessary.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • Much of the government material released under the Access to Information Act was heavily censored
  • Asbestos trade figures from different sources did not always add up
  • The author could not verify whether Mexico's import permit regulations had since been modified

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