Remembering a researcher's legacy on asbestos research

Remembering a researcher’s legacy on asbestos research

Dr. Irving J. Selikoff was a renowned researcher and a pioneer in the topic of asbestos’s effect on people’s health from the 1960s to 1990s. At the same time, he was despised for his supposedly exaggerated claims against the asbestos industry.

Two historians, Jock McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale, recently published an article spotlighting Dr. Selikoff’s work and his legacy and how he made the public aware of the dangers of asbestos. Their reason for writing it is because they believed nothing of value had been written about the great researcher and his profound impact on the country’s attitude towards asbestos.

Dr. Selikoff began studying asbestos factory workers in the 1960s, a period when asbestos using was high in America. He concluded from his research that asbestos was responsible for mesothelioma, lung cancer, and various other cancers.

At the time, asbestos was considered a very useful mineral and was credited as a protector of human health because of its flame-retardant abilities. It was widely used in many useful products and proved profitable for many industries. Dr. Selikoff’s claims angered businessmen in these industries and the media turned against him as well. Rumors were spread that he may have faked his medical degree. By this time, he was regarded as one of the most prominent and outspoken researchers on asbestos-related diseases.

However, in the 1980s public opinion swayed in his favor. Ten of thousands of workers in the asbestos industry had contracted asbestos-related health disorders and sued the industry. The U.S. government created a cleanup program to remove asbestos from schools and public buildings.

The use of asbestos still goes on today in the U.S. as well as many countries around the world. The historians believe it’s the government’s responsibility to look for alternatives to the substance and take necessary actions to prevent its people from being affected by the substance.

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