During National Asbestos Disease Awareness Week (April 1-7), we’ll be cross-posting a piece every day from the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization.
By Kenneth A. Cook, Co-founder and President, Environmental Working Group; cross-posted from Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
Thousands of innocent people die while governments do nothing to prevent it. In Darfur it’s called genocide. In the case of asbestos-related deaths in the United States, it’s just a statistic.
Ten thousand Americans lose their lives every year as a result of exposure to asbestos. Our government could take action and ban the mineral, but it has not.
A number of other developed countries, including all of Europe, prohibit manufacture and use of asbestos. In the U.S., however, it continues to be imported and used in a number of products that many of us encounter every day.
Industry has known all about the deadly affects of asbestos for decades but covered it up. Manufacturers and users did everything possible to conceal just how deadly it is, particularly for those exposed on the job.
A few years back, EWG compiled industry internal memos and court documents highlighting just how callous and duplicitous the cover-up of asbestos has been.
“…if you have enjoyed a good life while working with asbestos products, why not die from it.” 1966 memo from an executive of the Bendix Corporation (now part of Honeywell)
The results of our investigation, including all the documents, are on EWG’s website: http://www.ewg.org/sites/asbestos/facts/fact3.php.
Ken Cook co-founded EWG with Richard Wiles in 1993. In the 15 years since its founding, EWG has earned renown for its innovative, headline-making computer investigations of environmental problems.
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April 4, 2010 at 11:21 am
Terry Brenan
I am 72 years old, grew up in a 800 sq. ft. home with 2 heavy smokers, and was an insulator in the early 70′s for about 3 years—-no resperitory (sic)problems—seems odd in light of all the doom and gloom about asbestos.
every thing from the past is bad for you if there is money to be make off of someone, do I sound cynical—you bet!!!!!!
April 9, 2010 at 1:46 pm
Denis Dooley
Although I have no doubt that the threat of low-level asbestos exposure to the general populace has been overblown, Terry’s comments are ignorant and would be offensive to those who have developed diseases associated with both cigarettes and asbestos.
Just because one individual has anecdotally developed, or failed to develop, a disease based on a specific exposure is only a small part of the story. Just one of the basic concepts of toxicology, the LD-50, illustrates this very well. LD-50 represents a short hand for a test dosing of laboratory subjects (guinea pigs, mice, rats, etc.) with an amount that is lethal to 50% of the test subjects. Why do half the subject die and the others live? Who knows, it is probably a combination of genetics and behavior (perhaps the mouse tanked up on water just before being dosed, allowing it to expel just enough to survive); but, the 50% mortality is generally closely reproducible (within a predictable stadard variation) based on a set dose (parts per million, mg/kg, etc.).
Humans are no different in this regard. Just because Terry was blessed with not having a negative outcome from his exposures to date doesn’t mean that none of his coworkers did. He may have been more careful in how he cut the insulation, may have had less of a tolerance for dust (motivating him to use fans and/or open windows, reducing his exposure), had a better diet with more antioxidants, or simply may have had a genetic makeup that made him less susceptible to asbestosis and lung cancer.
In humans, the variables make it even more difficult to understand why some are affected and some are not, but that doesn’t mean it’s all harmless. Terry should just be grateful he’s lived a full, if cynical, life. Congrats to him.
October 25, 2010 at 5:26 pm
Terry Brenan
I take umbridge at being referred to as ignorant–I admit I do not know everything, except I know about my self–I was an insulator when it was mixed with concrete and trowelled on walls-I worked in constant asbestos dust.
I am cynical on all the hype that indicates any exposure no matter how slight will lead to health problems, I am sure that some people are more susseptabel (sic) than others, but the panic is compounded by money and how to exploit something to someones gain. Breast cancer is an example—miracle cures or major helath advancements are announced yearly–yet billions are spent on research and nothing concrete–yet
March 21, 2011 at 1:39 pm
David Michael
I concur with Denis Dooley’s assessment. While there is no garantee that exposure to asbestos will cause serious illness, there is overwhelming scientific evidence that humans that are exposed to asbestos are at substantially increased risk of serious lung disease and cancer with a long latency period that can be 30 years or more before the onset of cancer.
For example, a friend of mine worked with asbestos insulation in the boating industry for several years in his late teens and early 20s which increased his risk of lung cancer. He later married and changed careers to law enforcement. At 42 years young, he died of lung cancer. Unfortunately, he was not as lucky as Terry.