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Dangers in the Dust
Extracts from BBC News Inside the global asbestos
trade. Full story on the link at the end of
the page.
Banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, white
asbestos continues to be widely used in China, India, Russia and
Brazil, and many developing countries. The BBC's Steve Bradshaw and
Jim Morris from the ICIJ report on an industry supported by a
global network of lobby groups.
New evidence
And recently, the scientific case against white asbestos may be
hardening.
John Hodgson of the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has
estimated the risk of lung cancer from white asbestos is between 10
and 50 times less than from the same exposure to banned blue and
brown (amphibole) asbestos.
But he says new evidence from the US had led him to conclude his
previous estimates of mesothelioma risk could be higher - "to
between a 20th and a 100th" of blue and brown risk.
On the BBC
You can watch Steve Bradshaw's report on his "Dangers in the
Dust - Inside the Global Asbestos Trade" on BBC World TV.
BBC Discovery
programme
"I would say that we can't say it's safe," he said, adding
that there are very serious levels of uncertainty over these
figures - especially at lower exposure levels. The HSE actively
supports the EU's white asbestos ban.
Meanwhile, on lung cancer, Alex Burdorf, a public health
professor at Rotterdam's Erasmus Medical Centre, said his recent
review of earlier epidemiological studies commissioned by the Dutch
government, had convinced him that white asbestos was "much more
dangerous than previously thought."
"What we have shown is that chrysotile is as dangerous as
crocidolite [blue asbestos] for contracting lung cancer, and is
also linked to mesothelioma," he said. "I don't think there is safe
way of working with asbestos, so I would support a global ban on
asbestos purely because of public health risks."
The one thing almost everyone seems to agree on is that little
is known about what is actually happening in many countries that
still use asbestos.
"Good epidemiology on worker cohorts still using chrysotile
could be very helpful," said John Hodgson.
"Whether it's ethical to suggest we should wait and see, rather
than working for a ban in those countries one might debate. If
countries do decide to continue using chrysotile they should have
good systems of monitoring exposure and subsequent illness and
mortality, so if they're wrong in their judgement this will emerge
as quickly as possible."
In its joint investigation the BBC/ICIJ found little evidence
that such comprehensive monitoring is yet widely in place.
Jim Morris, is a staff writer for the ICIJ, specialises in
coverage of the environment and public health. Steve Bradshaw is an
award-winning documentary film-maker.
Click here to see the full
report
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