World Health Organization on Asbestos and Related Disease

The World Health Organization Focuses on Asbestos and Related Disease

In 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its Resolution 58.22, the essential purpose of which is to prompt its Member States to adopt effective ways to identify and prevent those forms of cancer that are caused by exposures to known carcinogens. The aforementioned WHO resolution focuses on exposures to cancer-causing agents in the workplace or the environment, and it concentrates in large part on asbestos, a particularly lethal carcinogen which, on a global basis, has been determined to cause approximately half of all occupational-related cancer deaths.

The especially onerous nature of asbestos as a carcinogen in the workplace was further highlighted when, in 2003, the Thirteenth Session of the Joint International Labour Organization/World Health Organization (ILO/WHO) Committee on Occupational Health strongly recommended a concerted, worldwide effort to eliminate asbestos-caused diseases. The ILO has long been an advocate of more stringent international asbestos regulations, as well as the eventual total elimination of asbestos from the global workplace.

Definition of Asbestos

For clarification purposes, the WHO's Resolution 58.22 defines the geologic term "asbestos" as a broad designation of a wide variety of naturally occurring silicate minerals of the fibrous, serpentine or amphibole type. Asbestos has both a historical and current industrial processes and/or manufactured products utility due to its numerous unique and desirable properties. Asbestos is characterized by a superior tensile strength, a high resistance to heat and harsh chemical corrosives, excellent insulating properties and more. The six primary types of asbestos are: chrysotile; anthophyllite; amosite; crocidolite; actinolite, and tremolite.

Exposures and Diseases

The ILO/WHO Signatories agree that the most worrisome of all exposures to asbestos is the inhalation of microscopic, airborne asbestos fibers that are produced when the material is crushed or fractured. These inhaled fibers will typically become permanently imbedded in soft lung tissues where, decades subsequent to exposure, they have been shown to cause diseases such as asbestosis (lung fibrosis), pleural plaques (ribcage and diaphragm fibrosis), pleural thickening and effusions, mesothelioma (an aggressive and incurable form of cancer that chiefly presents in the lungs), as well as laryngeal and other types of cancer.

No Safe Threshold of Exposures

The WHO's Resolution 58.22 states that there is no scientific evidence to suggest that there is any safe level of exposure to asbestos, a position that is buttressed by evidence of an increased incidence of asbestos-caused cancers in populations that had very low levels of exposure to the hazardous material. To limit or eliminate these diseases, the WHO resolution recommends the complete abandonment of all uses of all types of asbestos. The resolution paid particular attention to the worldwide popularity of asbestos-containing cement used by the construction industry, this focus due chiefly to the large size of the workforce, as well as to the predictable tendency of these cementitious products to deteriorate over time, thereby releasing asbestos fibers into the environment.

Recommended Actions

Both the ILO and the WHO have suggested a number of strategies to combat what has been described as a "worldwide catastrophe" of asbestos-caused deaths in and away from the workplace. Some of those strategies are as briefly outlined below:

Increased medical surveillance and screening through the establishment of national and international registries of those individuals who have been occupationally or environmentally exposed to asbestos. These registries would be utilized to facilitate the increased screening of those on the registry to effect early detection of asbestos-related diseases in order to optimize illness outcomes.
Work to foster governmental commitment and resource allocation. The eventual, worldwide elimination of asbestos use and related diseases will require significant government cooperation, involvement, and funding.
Draft, ratify, and implement international agreements and treaties that are designed to unify political, social, and health organization policies that seek to wholly ban the production or use of all forms of asbestos in all ILO/WHO Signatory States.
Design and implement effective fiscal programs to encourage and support the global elimination of asbestos production and use. Provide financial penalties for the use of asbestos by enacting import and export excise duties to increase its cost. Provide low to no-interest loans to companies that wish to abandon asbestos use, and establish international trusts to fund similar efforts.
Increase enforcement of existing laws, regulations, and treaties that were designed to lower asbestos deaths - lax enforcement of current asbestos regulatory policies is, to date, widespread in nations around the world. The ILO/WHO recommends increased penalties for asbestos-related environmental or worker safety violations.
Provide industries with professional advisory services to facilitate a conversion to asbestos alternatives.
Design, implement, and sufficiently fund comprehensive asbestos inspection programs to ensure compliance with "zero-use" asbestos regulations.

Conclusions

While the ILO/WHO strategies are dismissed by many as being overreaching and far too ambitious, the two organizations, nevertheless, see no middle ground when it comes to the production and use of all types of asbestos. Their uncompromising view is that all uses of asbestos must be abandoned in order to preserve life, and their only focus is to continue to pursue that goal.

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