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On July 23, 2024, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the US Senate that would prevent financially viable companies from dumping their liabilities via the use of a legal manoeuvre – commonly referred to as the “Texas two-step.” The “Ending Corporate Bankruptcy Abuse Act of 2024” was sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island and Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican. The “Texas two-step” has been used by companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Georgia-Pacific to off-load asbestos liabilities in tens of thousands of cancer cases. See: US Senate bill aims to curb Texas two-step bankruptcies.

On July 22, 2024, the Consumers’ Association of Penang conveyed a 15-page Memorandum to the Prime Minister and other government ministers calling for asbestos use to be banned comprehensively throughout the country. Citing evidence from the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the Asian Ban Asbestos Network and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, the memorandum concluded: “Malaysia should have banned asbestos a long time ago. We cannot wait any longer and sacrifice more lives.” See: Call for Outright Ban on Asbestos.

The commentary cited below was about the growing popularity of green technologies, especially in the construction industry. The author highlighted the hazard posed by the incorporation of asbestos into building products saying: “in a number of countries, asbestos is banned in construction, as it is considered a harmful material.” Although nothing was said specifically about the need to outlaw asbestos, it was clear from the tone of the article that the author felt that the use of this toxic substance was contrary to the fulfillment of Azerbaijan's green priorities. See: Больше, чем тренд [More than a trend].

On July 22, 2024 a train carrying six containers of 120 tons of chrysotile (white) asbestos left Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China en route to Tajikistan. This was the first time that Gansu chrysotile asbestos was exported to a Central Asian country. In the past, China consumed almost all the asbestos it mined. It seems that the creation of additional transport routes is encouraging producers to expand overseas markets. Considering that asbestos regulations in most Central Asian countries are either non-existent or unenforced, this development is of serious concern. See: 甘肃温石棉首次出口塔吉克斯坦 [Gansu chrysotile asbestos was exported to Tajikistan for the first time].

A report issued on July 23, 2024 by The National Audit Office (NAO) about the £369 million, 10-year Buckingham Palace refurbishment program noted that although compliance with the works schedule and financial budget were good “other challenges, such as the discovery of more asbestos and structural damage than expected – common in heritage programmes – could have been foreseen.” Whilst it is reassuring that the asbestos hazard at the Palace is being addressed, the hazard posed by asbestos material contained within the majority of UK schools remains an imminent threat to students and staff. See: Progress on the Buckingham Palace Reservicing programme.

Current negotiations between the US pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and the companies which supplied it with talc for use in its manufacturing processes are believed to be inching towards a settlement. Under the proposal, the suppliers – Imerys Talc America and Cyprus Mines Corporation – will contribute to a $505 million settlement package. J&J is facing 57,000+ lawsuits from claimants who allege their cancers were caused by exposure to asbestos fibers in J&J talc-based baby powder. See: Johnson & Johnson Nears Settlement in Talc Dispute.

The French National Institute of Cancer [INCA] has launched an appeal for applications for interested parties to roll out a nationwide lung cancer screening program for at-risk individuals. The targeted population includes: adults 50 to 74 years old and long-term smokers or former smokers. People who will not be screened include those exposed to asbestos, radon, passive smoking and air pollution. 52,777 cases of lung cancer (LC) were diagnosed in France in 2023; most LC diagnoses in France are made at a late stage of the disease. See: Appel à candidatures 2024 Dépistage des cancers du poumon - Programme pilote [Call for applications for 2024 Lung cancer screening - Pilot program].

On July 21, 2024, it was announced that a 6th worker had been certified by the Kobe Nishi Labor Standards Inspection Office as having a work-related injury after contracting the signature asbestos cancer mesothelioma having been exposed to asbestos during clean-up work following the 1995 Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. The injured man who is 67 years old, was born in Amagasaki City, but now lives in the Hanshin area. Commenting on his experience after the disaster, the cancer sufferer said: “There were many people who did similar work in the disaster areas, so there are probably even more patients.” See: 阪神・淡路被災地：震災によるアスベスト被害 [Hanshin-Awaji disaster area: Asbestos damage caused by the earthquake].

Days before the 2024 Summer Olympics were due to begin in France, the news was circulated about the discovery of asbestos contamination in the Lille subway system. From July 27, scores of basketball and handball matches are scheduled to be held in Lille. The focus of investigations now progressing concerns six metro trains and one train station, which is currently closed. See: Lille: La Decouverte d’Amiante Menace le Bon Fonctionnement des Metros Pendant les Jo 2024 [Lille: Discovery of Asbestos Threatens Normal Functioning of Metros during 2024 Olympics].

The July 8, 2024 commentary by a Ukrainian environmental expert which is cited below delineated the multitude of asbestos-related challenges facing Ukraine, which historically had used asbestos in vast quantities for the production of asbestos-cement material including roofing. Russian attacks on the national infrastructure have created unquantifiable amounts of asbestos-contaminated building debris and Ukraine is struggling to implement procedures to ensure the safe collection and disposal of this waste. See: Що не так із азбестом і як бути з горами небезпечних будівельних відходів [What's wrong with asbestos and how to deal with mountains of hazardous construction waste].

An updated list of schools which still contain asbestos material was released at a press conference by a coalition of civil society groups in Busan, Korea on July 18, 2024. According to the new information, out of 12,058 elementary, middle, and high schools in South Korea, 2,925 still contain asbestos; in other words, 1 out of 4 schools are still contaminated despite the nationwide asbestos removal program and a deadline of 2027 for the eradication of all asbestos in schools. The regions with the highest number of toxic schools are: Gyeonggi (767), Seoul (422), Gyeongnam (347), Gyeongbuk (264) and Jeonnam (260). See: 전국 초중고 '석면학교' 2925곳 명단 공개 [A list of 2,925 elementary, middle, and high ‘asbestos schools’ nationwide released].

Italy’s National Institute for Social Security (INPS) was ordered by the Appeal Court of Rome to increase monthly pension payments to eleven workers (or to their heirs, since many had died from asbestos-related diseases during their 20-year wait for justice). The injured had been exposed to asbestos whilst employed in ship construction at the Posillipo shipyard in the Lazio region of central Italy. See: Amianto: Ex dipendenti della Posillipo di Sabaudia risarciti dall’INPS dopo 20 anni. Avranno una maggiorazione della pensione [Asbestos: Former employees of Posillipo di Sabaudia compensated by INPS after 20 years. They [or their heirs] will receive an increased pension].

The article cited below, which was uploaded on July 8 2024, referenced new data published in The Lancet which revealed that: “a ‘substantial portion’ of lung cancer patients in India are those who do not smoke.” In 2020, there were 72,510 new cases of lung cancer diagnosed and 66,279 deaths according to research by doctors from the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. Exposure to asbestos was listed as one of the causes of the high rates of lung cancer in India, along with environmental and air pollution, exposures to chromium, cadmium, arsenic and coal, and second-hand smoke. See: Most of India's lung cancer cases are linked to non-smokers. Here's why.

Staff at the Department of Waste Management (DWM) in Tuvalu, an island country in the South Pacific, are taking a proactive approach to the legacy of asbestos use, with new protocols for identifying toxic products. According to DWM Director Mr Epu Falega: “By knowing where the asbestos is we can help our communities live with it safely.” Using newly acquired technology, the first survey of the 148 buildings on Niu island was conducted. Nineteen of the 131 samples tested were found to contain asbestos including those taken from roofing on the old chapel which was built in 1925. See: Protecting communities in Tuvalu from the threat of asbestos.

A precedent was set on July 9, 2024 when a mesothelioma sufferer, who had been employed at a textile factory in Uji City, sued the government for failing to protect him in a lawsuit being heard in Kyoto District Court. Between 1969 and 1979, the worker had been tasked with handling burlap bags containing asbestos which was fed into the production line for the manufacture of heat insulation products. As a result of workplace exposures, he contracted the asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. See: ユニチカ工場で石綿暴露　宇治市の元労働者が救済求め提訴　中皮腫発症し今年３月に労災認定 [Asbestos exposure at Unitika factory. Former worker with mesothelioma in Uji City sues for relief and [exposure] is certified as a worker's accident in March this year].

As of July 15, 2024, two tunnels in the east of Brussels were closed as part of an asbestos removal and remediation project being carried out over the summer months. According to one of the supervisors Inge Paemen: “The work involves removing asbestos and repairing and protecting the reinforced concrete ceilings… Asbestos was already removed from part of the ceilings in summer 2020. This will now be finished and the ceilings will also be repaired.” The work on four key tunnels is being undertaken at this time as traffic flow is 20% decreased during July and August. See: Two Brussels tunnels closed for works from Monday.

In the compilation of the July 25, 2024 asbestos news items for IBAS, I noticed a pattern in the content available. The developments reported on that day from Asia, Europe and North America illustrated the evolution of the global asbestos agenda from the early days of promotion to the end stage of eradication with a stop en route to address claims by the injured. With so much political uncertainty and social instability on the horizon, it is reassuring to see that progress is being made to end the global epidemic of asbestos-related diseases and provide justice for the injured. The sooner humankind transitions to asbestos-free technology, the safer the world will be. [Read full article]

If asbestos producers have their way, the global epidemic of asbestos-related deaths could well continue into the 25th century. And yet asbestos, in all its forms, is categorized as a Group 1 carcinogen (“carcinogenic to humans”) by the International Agency on Research for Cancer. According to data published on July 22, 2024 in The Lancet, Asia bears the highest disease burden of lung cancer, with 63.1% of newly diagnosed lung cancers and 62.9% of lung cancer deaths occurring in the region…” It is no coincidence that the region with “the highest disease burden of lung cancer” is also the region with the highest consumption of asbestos. [Read full article]

At an art exhibition held in Dundee, Scotland on May 9, 2024 by the Scottish asbestos charity Asbestos Action, ten original portraits of asbestos victims by artist Craig Semple were displayed. The objective of the event was to show that people are “much more than their diagnoses.” Commenting on the day, the Charity’s General Manager Dianne Foster said: “Every single person who is diagnosed with an asbestos-related condition has a life, has a family, has friends, and it is a very unfair situation that people have been exposed to asbestos.” Positive feedback was received from many of the hundred or so people who attended the showing. [Read full article]

Last week, millions of readers of major UK newspapers were reminded of the country’s tragic asbestos legacy in stories about asbestos-related deaths from occupational, second-hand and environmental exposures. Almost simultaneously, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released figures confirming the continuation of the epidemic which has been killing Britons for over a century. According to new HSE data, 5,000 people+ die annually from asbestos-related diseases including mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, cancers of the larynx and stomach; there is no data for the number of asbestos-related deaths caused by cancers of the ovary and pharynx. Calls are being made for the new Labour Government to take action on this national scandal. [Read full article]

The death of Robert Vojakovic was announced on June 27, 2024. Robert was a star in the galaxy of asbestos campaigners: he was indefatigable, incontrovertible and irrepressible. Coming from thousands of miles away, Robert Vojakovic grew to represent the very best of Australian values in his fight for a “Fair Go” for workers in his new country. Over the span of fifty years, he devoted his time and energy initially as a volunteer, latterly as the President of the Australian Diseases Society of Australia, to making manifest the devastating impact asbestos exposures had had on miners, millers, transport workers and family members from the infamous asbestos mining town of Wittenoom, where he himself once worked. [Read full article]

The news released last week that Russia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) was considering plans to recognize occupational cancers, including those caused by exposures to asbestos, as industrial diseases was as huge a surprise to ban asbestos campaigners as it was a shock to Russian vested interests. The consultation period was due to close yesterday (June 17, 2024). No doubt the MoH received angry complaints from Orenburg Minerals, Uralasbest and other asbestos stakeholders over the implicit threat to the substance at the heart of their enterprises. After all, if asbestos is hazardous enough to be on the authorized list of diseases caused by occupational exposures in Russia, then the industry propaganda which affirms that asbestos use is safe is patently untrue, as we all know it to be. [Read full article]

Late on June 11, 2024, Italy’s Supreme Court (the Court of Cassation) announced that it had overturned a decision by the Palermo Court of Appeal which had nullified a first-instance guilty verdict for the asbestos deaths of 39 shipyard workers and the serious injuries sustained by 11 other employees. The lower court had ruled that the negligence of executives Giuseppe Cortesi and Antonio Cipponeri had resulted in dangerous workplace asbestos exposures at the Fincantieri S.p.A. shipyard in Palermo in the 1980s. The Court of Appeal rejected this decision saying that exposure to asbestos at the company’s shipyard in Palermo had ceased in the early 1980s. The Supreme Court found the decision of the Appeal Court “erroneous” and ordered a new hearing. [Read full article]

I’d seen it with my own eyes but hadn’t believed it. However, in the aftermath of an explosive article on the news portal of Deutsche Welle, a German state-owned international broadcaster, I’m convinced. Last year, Brazil solidified its position as the number one supplier of asbestos to India, toppling Russia into second place. Russia’s reversal of fortunes was first observed in 2022 when Indian import data recorded 169,134 tonnes (t) from Brazil and 145,398t from Russia. The slide continued in 2023, with shipments of 160,720t of Brazilian asbestos to India. This news has repercussions that far transcend mere reals, rupees and rubles: let me explain. [Read full article]

“Sportswashing” is the latest weapon in the arsenal of tricks wielded by asbestos conglomerates to decontaminate corporate names sullied by decades of wanton behaviour, workforce deaths and environmental crimes. Around the world, former and current asbestos companies are attempting to restore their brands by a public relations sleight of hand, attaching their name to that of a popular team or sporting event. The contentious nature of this technique was confirmed last week by the reaction of sports fans in Parramatta, New South Wales who vociferously condemned a renewal of links between the local rugby team and James Hardie, formerly Australia’s largest asbestos conglomerate. [Read full article]

The leadership role of Australian campaigners in the struggle to eradicate the asbestos hazard in the Asia-Pacific region has not gone unnoticed. The latest newsletter (April 2024) issued by Uralasbest – Russia’s second biggest asbestos conglomerate – condemned Australia for its “sophisticated” efforts to “destroy the chrysotile (white) asbestos industry” via the UN’s Rotterdam Convention and its attempt “to add two negative paragraphs on chrysotile asbestos to the text of the Resolution on Chemicals” at the latest meeting of the UN Environment Assembly. This month’s Australian outreach project – a training initiative to build local medical capacity for the diagnosis and treatment of asbestos-related diseases in Laos and Vietnam – will almost certainly offend the Russians even more. [Read full article]

On May 7, 2024, the Government of Catalonia approved draft legislation to address the region’s deadly asbestos legacy. The Asbestos Eradication Bill, when it’s ratified by Parliament, will facilitate a timely and safe removal of asbestos from buildings and facilities. Commenting on the significance of this development, Catalonia’s President Pere Aragonès acknowledged “the commitment and involvement of civic and social entities, neighborhood associations, local governments and social agents, and various departments of the Government of Catalonia” which had led to the adoption of this landmark bill. One can but hope that the coalition of stakeholders praised by the President will continue to press for much-needed change; the sooner The Asbestos Eradication Bill becomes law, the better! [Read full article]

This article comprises the English translation of an open letter to the Swiss asbestos billionaire Stephen Schmidheiny, written by Italian journalist Silvana Mossano, whose husband Marco Giorcelli died from environmental asbestos exposures experienced in Casale Monferrato, his home town. Ms. Mossano has seen with her own eyes the dreadful repercussions of the asbestos manufacturing operations owned by Schmidheiny, who has been tried and convicted in multiple Italian courts for his role in this deadly epidemic. Ms Mossano’s letter is both heartfelt and well reasoned. It deserves to be read. [Read full article]

Italians were shocked to the core by the appearance of journalist Franco Di Mare on the Sunday night TV chatshow – Che tempo che fa (What's the weather like) – on April 28, 2024. Sixty-eight-year old Di Mare, who was speaking remotely, was shown using a respirator as he announced that he was seriously ill with the asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. During a dramatic interview with Fabio Fazio, Di Mare laid bare the devastating impact of the disease and its poor prognosis: mesothelioma has, he said “a very long latency period and when it manifests itself it is too late.” Di Mare castigated the RAI TV channel, owned & operated by the Italian Government, for turning its back on him after his diagnosis. [Read full article]

As a result of a Supreme Court ruling, it will now become obligatory for all asbestos-containing products sold in Indonesia to feature warning labels in Bahasa, the country’s official language. This landmark decision was issued further to a petition submitted in December 2023 by the Independent Community Consumer Protection Institute, the Yasa Nata Budi Foundation – a consumer advocacy body – and the Local Initiative for OSH Network. Celebrating this victory, campaigner Muchamad Darisman said: “By granting our request, the Judges took a giant leap forward in safeguarding the lives not only of workers but also of members of the public and consumers. It is essential that the Government and all relevant authorities take prompt action to implement the Court’s ruling...” [Read full article]

Between 2009 – when the Asian Ban Asbestos Network (ABAN) was founded – and 2023, global asbestos production fell from almost 2 million tonnes/t to 1,300,000t a year, a whopping 35% decline. There are many factors which adversely affected the asbestos industry’s bottom line during this time; the work of ABAN was one of them. On ABAN’s 15th year anniversary, its members take stock of what has been achieved by the journey which began in Hong Kong so many years ago and reaffirm their determination to continue the campaign to rid Asia of the scourge caused by the continuing use of asbestos. [Read full article]

Now in its 46th year of operations, the Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia (ADSA) is more relevant than ever. Having had the privilege of catching up with ADSA colleagues during a recent trip to Western Australia (WA), it was clear that the Society’s staff were even busier than usual. During our stay in Perth, we were delighted on April 18, 2024, to learn that the much-hated “once and for all rule,” which had disadvantaged ADSA members by barring them from accepting provisional damages, had been overturned by the adoption of the Civil Liability Amendment (Provisional Damages for Dust Diseases) Bill 2024. Commenting on this momentous development, the ADSA’s CEO Melita Markey said: “asbestos and silicosis sufferers in WA will have the same legal rights as sufferers elsewhere in the country.” [Read full article]

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Demonstration in Woluwe Park, Brussels, 2006

Under cloudy skies, members of Belgian and French Asbestos Victims' Associations from Dunkirk and Bourgogne marched side-by-side in the third annual demonstration organized by ABEVA, the Belgian Association of Asbestos Victims. Erik Jonckheere, ABEVA's Co-chairman, condemned the government which still refuses to recognize the plight of the asbestos injured.

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