Nic Fleming traces the history of asbestos regulation. Its harmful effects have been known for a century, but the industry fought hard to keep scientists quiet:
Scientists who published inconvenient results were vilified and harassed. … Any natural gaps or uncertainties in the research that showed asbestos caused disease were highlighted and exploited in an early version of the now-prevalent ‘manufactured uncertainty’ tactic. If these strategies sound familiar, there’s a good reason: the industry was being advised by a U.S. public relations company that had previously defended big tobacco.
Even today, economic interests trump regulation across the globe:
From a peak of 5 million tonnes around 1980, asbestos production fell to 2 million tonnes around two decades ago, and has hovered around that mark ever since. Russia accounts for half of world production, with the other large producers China, Brazil and Kazakhstan. As of April 2013, bans on all types of asbestos use were in place in 54 countries—fewer than the number in which it is still used. China and India consume the most, together taking almost half of world production. Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Brazil and Russia use significant amounts.
In 2013, an attempt to add white asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention [on hazardous substances] was blocked by Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Zimbabwe, India and Vietnam. Supporters of the move said it would have led to improved labelling, handling and safety regulations, and saved thousands of lives. Opponents said it would increase shipping and insurance costs.
Update from a reader:
My father gasped his last breaths somewhere between assisted death via morphine and suffocating to death in the late 1990s. For his last four hours we discussed what he saw and what he dreamt as the drug took hold to relieve the incredible pain of his ravaged lungs until he simply became silent. Then he passed. On an x-ray, both lungs looked like a nighttime aerial view of twin cities with cluster after cluster of mutated cells stimulated by silicate fibers that were the critical size and shape gets trapped in our lungs and that imparts the disease. Asbestos kills slowly and relentlessly.
He had worked in a factory all of his adult life and was a moderate smoker, mostly cigars, for the majority of 35 years he worked. Several of his colleagues also died from mesothelioma. About twice a year I still get my share of the modest checks tied to the asbestos settlements. They are eerie reminders of the steady suffocation and pain that occupied my father’s late-50s, mad money that I refuse to spend on anything serious.
He came home every day from that job in his work clothes. I wonder sometimes whether those of us with this type of secondary exposure are also at risk. It makes you think a lot about ensuring today is a worthwhile day.
The Dish 