Brussels - A
recent report calls for an urgent, worldwide ban on the mining and use of
asbestos. It argues that there is no safe use of asbestos that can prevent
occupational and environmental exposure and urges all countries to use safer
alternatives to asbestos in order to protect the health of their citizens.
Asbestos is used
to make woven insulation and fireproofing materials. It can also be mixed with
cement products to make products such as asbestos boards, roofing and pipes for
the building industry. Although 52 countries, including all Member States of
the EU, ban all forms of asbestos, over two million tonnes of asbestos is mined
annually, mainly in Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Canada, Zimbabwe, and
Colombia. Almost all countries in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and
Africa continue to use asbestos and in developing countries there is often
little protection for those that work with or use asbestos products.
Asbestos can
cause asbestiosis (permanent scarring of the lungs) and cancer, especially of
the lungs and larynx (voice-box), in addition to mesothelioma (cancer of the
lining around the lungs, heart or abdominal organs). Exposure is primarily
through inhalation of the fibres and health effects can take many years to
appear after exposure. The researchers suggest the asbestos cancer pandemic may
kill more than 10 million people in total before asbestos is banned globally.
Past exposure to
asbestos is estimated to cause 20,000 asbestos-related lung cancers and 10,000
instances of mesothelioma in people across Western Europe, Scandinavia, North
America, Japan and Australia each year. In 2006, the World Health Organisation
(WHO) estimated around 125 million people were exposed to asbestos at work.
Many people are
exposed to asbestos in the environment, especially from construction materials
containing asbestos. Schools, homes and offices in the developed world may
still retain asbestos-type building materials, whilst asbestos building
materials are currently used in large quantities in the developing world.
One type of
asbestos, chrysotile (white asbestos), accounts for almost 100 per cent of the
asbestos currently produced and used around the world and for 95 per cent of
the historical use of asbestos since 1900. There have been industry suggestions
that white asbestos is substantially less harmful than other forms of asbestos
and that it can be used safely in the correct conditions. However,
epidemiological and toxicological studies and laboratory experiments
demonstrate that it does cause various types of cancers, including lung cancer
and mesothelioma.
In calling for a
universal ban on the mining and all use of asbestos, the researchers point out
that illnesses and deaths associated with asbestos are preventable. Other
products can be safely used as substitutes, for example, ductile iron pipe,
high-density polyethylene pipe and metal-wire-reinforced concrete pipe can be
used in place of asbestos-cement water-pipes. Asbestos sheets used as low-cost
building materials can be replaced with fibre-cement made with polymer or
cellulose fibres that are greater than 10 micrometres in diameter, which are
typically too large to be inhaled.
Original source:
LaDou, J., Castleman, B., Frank, A. et al. (2010). The Case for a Global Ban on
Asbestos. Environmental Health Perspectives. 118(7): 897-901.
Source: recycling portal.
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