20 September 2017
Cost to Canada of asbestos disease at $2.35 billion (Article RightOnCanada.ca: http://central.bcwebinc.com/%7Erightcan/?p=4051)
The annual cost of newly diagnosed mesothelioma and lung cancer due to work-related asbestos exposure is significantly higher than first thought, according to a study by the Canadian Institute for Work & Health (IWH).
According to figures provided by IWH, based on the 427 cases in 2011, the economic burden of work-related mesothelioma, broken down, includes:
Original study:
by Barry Castleman Environmental Health (2016) 15:8
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26786721
Asbestos
“As the result of social movements around the world, asbestos is banned in over 50 countries. Yet most of the world’s people live in countries where asbestos is still used, often with few if any protective measures. No other industry has a comparable record of documented bad practices in occupational and environmental health. In the US, decades of litigation over asbestos injury compensation have pried loose a vast number of internal documents from the asbestos companies. These corporate documents reveal a veritable encyclopedia of menacing business practices.
This record includes :
Individual countries must overcome the influence of the asbestos-exporting countries and asbestos companies and stop building with asbestos, as recommended by WHO, ILO, and World Bank”.
Ongoing downplaying of the carcinogenicity of chrysotile asbestos by vested interests
By Xaver Baur and Arthur L. Frank
The persisting strong influence of vested asbestos-related interests in workers and public health issues including regulations and compensation necessitate ongoing alertness, corrections and appropriate reactions in scientific as well as public media and policy advisory bodies.
Industries that mine, manufacture and sell asbestos or asbestos-containing products have a long tradition of promoting the use of asbestos, while placing the burden of economic and health costs on workers and society. This has been successfully done in recent years and decades in spite of the overwhelming evidence that all asbestos types are carcinogenic and cause asbestosis. They continue to be extremely active by using slogans such as chrysotile can be used safely.
Another approach of the asbestos industry and of some of its insurance agencies is to broadly defeat liability claims of asbestos victims.
In doing so they systematically use inappropriate science produced by their own and/or by industry-affiliated researchers. Some of the latter were also engaged in producing defense material for other industries including the tobacco industry. Frequent examples of distributing such disinformation include questioning or denying established scientific knowledge about adverse health effects of asbestos. False evidence continues to be published in scientific journals and books
Chrysotil carcinogenicity