A joint policy committee with representatives from
13 epidemiology societies has finalized a statement concluding
that exposure to all forms of asbestos causes mesothelioma, lung
cancer, asbestosis, and other diseases. It is estimated that over
100,000 unnecessary and painful deaths occur each year due to
asbestos. According to Stan Weiss, chairman of the Joint
Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology, “continued use
of asbestos will lead to a public health disaster of
asbestos-related illness and premature death for decades to come,
repeating the epidemic we are witnessing today in industrialized
countries that used asbestos in the past.” The paper notes that
industrialized countries have virtually ceased using asbestos and
over 50 countries have passed laws banning its use.
Obstacles
Obviously, reporting on the dangers of asbestos is
not news, nor is it news to document what control or prevention
measures should be used. What is eye-opening, however, is that the
paper goes further than a typical literature review and points out
that unnecessary obstacles to prevention have been raised.
More specifically, the Committee asserts that the
asbestos industry is promoting the use of asbestos in countries
with a high proportion of low-to-middle income residents and has
created lobby organizations to achieve this goal. As a result, the
Committee reports that the use of asbestos is actually increasing
in these countries because of limited awareness or weak
regulations and, if unstopped, predicts a public health disaster
of asbestos-related illness and premature death for decades to
come. “The use of asbestos not only causes a human tragedy, but
also an economic disaster,” according to the Committee.
As an international group of epidemiologists, the
Committee stated “we hereby express our grave concern that
governments…are recklessly putting not only their own citizens in
peril by allowing asbestos mining and trading to take place, but
also those people in countries where asbestos products continue to
be used.
More Obstacles
In addition to legal intimidation which is
presently being used in India, Brazil, and Thailand, the Committee
states that similar to the tobacco industry, the asbestos industry
had funded and manipulated research to manufacture findings
favorable to its own interests. Also, the Committee claims that
the industry has prevented action in numerous countries and
blocked international initiatives that would protect populations
from asbestos harms. “Thus, although the scientific evidence is
overwhelming that all use of asbestos should stop, the asbestos
industry denies the science and uses its political influence…to
defeat efforts by public health officials to end the use of
asbestos,” according to the Committee.
Remedies
To remedy the situation, the Committee called for a
global ban on the mining, use, and export of all forms of asbestos
and for assistance to the communities currently involved in
mining. It called for increasing awareness of citizens and health
care professionals in countries which have used asbestos and
monitoring the health of exposed citizens, including an inventory
of where asbestos has been used.
Finally, the Committee urged other epidemiology
societies and public health organizations to support the right of
scientists to carry out their work free of intimidation, and to
denounce intimidation whenever appropriate to the circumstances.
The full Statement can be accessed on the website of the JPC-SE
www.jpc-se.org.
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