The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ) and the BBC’s International News Service have joined forces to release a new report concerning the global asbestos issue. The report brings new focus to asbestos problems facing the world at large, and demonstrates how many of the dangers of the asbestos trade have been outsourced to the developing world.
Asbestos fibers cause several dangerous diseases including mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of the soft tissue surrounding the body’s vital organs known as the mesothelium. After being unintentionally inhaled or ingested, asbestos fibers easily penetrate many of the body’s tissues before coming to rest in the mesothelium. Years or even decades later, the scarring reaction caused in the soft tissue can cause the development of malignant tumors. Once present, these tumors rapidly deteriorate the body’s organ systems, often causing death in less than eighteen months.
Until the 1980's when restrictions on asbestos’s use became commonplace, the substance was used in a wide variety of common construction materials.
As evidence condemning the asbestos trade began to accumulate throughout the twentieth century, bans, laws, restrictions and regulations concerning the substance were forged in many countries across the world. Developed nations such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and much of the European Union began to recognize the dangers of asbestos and create new laws accordingly. While many asbestos mines began to close across the globe, a few nations refused to act on the accumulating medical and scientific findings, preferring instead to monopolize the shrinking supply and advocate the remaining demand.
Brazil, Russia, and perhaps most surprisingly Canada represent the remaining stronghold on the asbestos industry. More than seventy five percent of the worlds annually produced asbestos comes from these three nations alone. According to the ICIJ and BBC’s report, the industry continues to pour money into propaganda legitimizing the asbestos trade, spending more than $100 million on lobbyists and public relations efforts since the mid 1980's.
While many developed nations no longer use asbestos products, many vast countries like China and India continue to import the deadly substance year after year. Asbestos fibers are certainly taking their toll in these nations. The ICIJ and BBC’s report claims that as many as one million deaths could result from the trade by 2030.
Vincent Cogliano, a member of the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, told the BBC:
“Chrysotile and other forms of asbestos… cause lung cancer and mesothelioma, and that’s been known for 50 years. My own personal view is that these risks… are as high as just about any known carcinogen that we have seen except perhaps tobacco smoke… so the continued export and continued use of chrysotile will increase the incidence of lung cancer and mesothelioma for many decades to come.”
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 5:41 AM and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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