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Epidemiology Consortium Speaks Out On The Well-Established Dangers of Asbestos

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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