Documents asbestos mining 29 results

"Background: Australia mined asbestos for more than 100 years and manufactured and imported asbestos products. There is a legacy of in situ asbestos throughout the built environment.
Methods: The aim of this study was to identify the possible sources of current and future asbestos exposure from the built environment. Telephone interviews with environmental health officers, asbestos removalists, and asbestos assessors in Australia sought information about common asbestos scenarios encountered.
Results: There is a considerable amount of asbestos remaining in situ in the Australian built environment. Potential current and future sources of asbestos exposure to the public are from asbestos-containing roofs and fences, unsafe asbestos removal practices, do-it-yourself home renovations and illegal dumping.
Conclusion: This research has highlighted a need for consistent approaches in the regulation and enforcement of safe practices for the management and removal of asbestos to ensure that in situ asbestos in the built environment is managed appropriately."

"Less than a decade ago, the Quebec asbestos industry enjoyed support from all the political parties in the Canadian House of Commons and the Quebec National Assembly, as well as from business and union organizations. Two lobby organizations (Chrysotile Institute and International Chrysotile Association) had significant global impact in promoting asbestos use and defeating asbestos ban efforts in developing countries. Quebec's two asbestos mines planned to expand operations and make Quebec the second biggest global asbestos exporter. With the aid of lobbyists, public relations consultants, and government financing, the asbestos industry came close to succeeding. The article examines how a campaign of international solidarity, involving scientific experts, asbestos victims, and health activists in Quebec, Canada, and overseas, succeeded in closing the two mines and defeating the political and social power that the Quebec asbestos industry had wielded for a century. This victory ended Canada's destructive role as global propagandist for the asbestos industry."

"La presenza della più grande miniera di amianto d'Europa, proprio alle prime pendici delle Alpi, in provincia di Torino, ha determinato i fatti che si raccontano in questa storia. Una storia che si intreccia con una singolare legge dello stato. Le vicissitudini amare toccate in sorte a una folta schiera di minatori e gli esiti sconfortanti della legge di dismissione dell'amianto, che in Italia interessa ormai centinaia di migliaia di persone, è quanto viene offerto in questo scritto proposto dopo un arco di tempo che se in parte ha lenito la combustione delle inquietudini, dall'altro si propone di non cedere spazio a intromissioni. La cronaca quotidiana e infinita dell'argomento amianto, in quest'ultimo decennio, ha determinato una giusta rabbia che ha portato l'autore a mettere alla luce tutta la storia, miniera, legge e post-legge. Una verità, quella dell'amianto che fa contemporaneamente, rumore, scandalo, notizia ma che purtroppo è il più delle volte manipolata. Ripercorrere le tappe di ciò che è accaduto, recuperando alla memoria i discutibili metodi di chiusura della miniera e gli altrettanto discutibili processi di attuazione della legge, consente di riaprire il dibattito in una luce nuova. A dispetto di quelle che avrebbero dovuto essere le migliori intenzioni della politica rispetto al progetto di dismissione di un prodotto pericoloso, si scoprono speculazioni, inadempienze e spreco di denaro pubblico. Sotto il profilo della difesa della salute, soprattutto per la categoria di coloro che dovrebbero essere i più tutelati, si assiste alla quasi totale impotenza delle strutture preposte."

"Vermiculite from the mine near Libby, Montana, is contaminated with tremolite asbestos and other amphibole fibers (winchite and richterite). Asbestos-contaminated Libby vermiculite was used in loose-fill attic insulation that remains in millions of homes in the United States, Canada, and other countries. OBJECTIVE: This report describes asbestos-related occupational respiratory disease mortality among workers who mined, milled, and processed the Libby vermiculite. METHODS: This historical cohort mortality study uses life table analysis methods to compare the age-adjusted mortality experience through 2001 of 1,672 Libby workers to that of white men in the U.S. population. RESULTS: Libby workers were significantly more likely to die from asbestosis [standardized mortality ratio (SMR) = 165.8; 95% confidence interval (CI), 103.9-251.1], lung cancer (SMR = 1.7; 95% CI, 1.4-2.1), cancer of the pleura (SMR = 23.3; 95% CI, 6.3-59.5), and mesothelioma. Mortality from asbestosis and lung cancer increased with increasing duration and cumulative exposure to airborne tremolite asbestos and other amphibole fibers. CONCLUSIONS: The observed dose-related increases in asbestosis and lung cancer mortality highlight the need for better understanding and control of exposures that may occur when homeowners or construction workers (including plumbers, cable installers, electricians, telephone repair personnel, and insulators) disturb loose-fill attic insulation made with asbestos-contaminated vermiculite from Libby, Montana."

"Primary exposure to asbestos in India can be encountered in the form of asbestos mining, asbestos cement industries, asbestos processing unit and during renovation and demolition of old asbestos cemented roof or other structures as well as modern electrical as well as mechanical appliances in which asbestos is still found. Ultimately construction workers, electricians, vehicle mechanics and other workers in the building trades who are exposed to asbestos inhale hundreds and thousands of amphiboles, which causes lung damage. It is being mined in India at places such as Andhra Pradesh (Pulivendla), Jharkand (Roro), Rajasthan (Ajmer, Bhilwara, Udaipur, Rajsamand) and the common problem faced by the locals are asbestosis through air and fluorosis through drinking water. The problem continues to be in India as well as other developing countries. Also, India import and re-export asbestos to other countries and workers at shipyard, transport of the hazardous material on road and roadside residents all are vulnerable to this uncommon disease. The signs and symptoms generally found with the workers are shortness of breath, persistent and productive cough due to pulmonary fibrosis can show up many years after the asbestos exposure."

"Background Heavy industrial exposure to asbestos causes lung cancer and mesothelioma, but it remains unknown whether much lower environmental exposure to asbestos also causes these cancers. Nevertheless, regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have assessed the risk of lung cancer by extrapolating known risks from past industrial exposure to asbestos to today's much lower environmental asbestos levels (roughly 100,000 times lower). We also tested the EPA's model for predicting the risk of asbestos-induced lung cancer in a population of women with relatively high levels of nonoccupational exposure to asbestos. Methods Mortality among women in 2 chrysotile-asbestos–mining areas of the province of Quebec was compared with mortality among women in 60 control areas, and age-standardized mortality ratios were derived. With the help of an expert panel, we estimated past exposure to asbestos among women in the mining areas and used these data with the EPA's model to predict the relative risk of lung cancer. We then compared this prediction with the observed mortality ratios. Results On the basis of the estimated exposure in the asbestos-mining areas, a relative risk of death due to lung cancer of 2.1 was predicted by the EPA's model, amounting to about 75 excess deaths from lung cancer in this population. By contrast, we calculated a standardized mortality ratio of 1.0 and a standardized proportionate mortality ratio of 1.1 (P>0.05), suggesting that there were between 0 and 6.5 excess deaths from lung cancer among the women with nonoccupational exposure to asbestos. Seven deaths from pleural cancer were observed (relative risk, 7.63; P<0.05). Conclusions We found no measurable excess risk of death due to lung cancer among women in two chrysotile-asbestos–mining regions. The EPA's model overestimated the risk of asbestos-induced lung cancer by at least a factor of 10. "