July 2024 Snapshot of Global Asbestos Panorama
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.
For well over a century, vested interests have sought to develop asbestos markets. As asbestos use was restricted and/or banned in industrialized countries, marketing efforts shifted elsewhere. For a number of years, the biggest asbestos consumers have been Asian countries. It was therefore, highly significant, that on July 22, 2024 the first ever asbestos exports from Gansu Province, China were dispatched to Tajikistan, via a new rail link providing access to lucrative asbestos markets in Central Asia.1
 Checking asbestos cargo documentation with Chinese Customs Officers. July 22, 2024. |
Over a century of asbestos use has contaminated not only the lungs and organs of global populations but also built and natural environments. A case in point is an iconic landmark in central London: Buckingham Palace.
 |
On July 23, 2024 a report was issued by The National Audit Office about the £369 million, 10-year refurbishment program of the most famous residence of the British monarch which noted that despite intensive preparation, unknown asbestos contamination had been found which caused delays in the schedule as well as costly eradication work.2
The devastating consequences of human exposures to asbestos have been reported over many decades. When faced with overwhelming epidemiological data and expert evidence substantiating the unpalatable truth, asbestophiles relied on “denial, obfuscation and prevarication” to forestall the imposition of restrictions and/or prohibitions. Transparent and fallacious arguments promoted by asbestos lobbyists to create doubt and confusion served them well for decades. In many countries, however, asbestos victims are now gaining the upper hand. Faced with 57,000+ lawsuits from US claimants who alleged their cancers were caused by exposure to asbestos fibers in Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) talc-based baby powder, the company is anxious to move forward. It can only do so by resolving the litigation. On July 23, 2024 it was reported that a multi-million dollar agreement between J&J and the companies which supplied it with talc was on the cards.3
On the same day, a bipartisan bill was introduced to the US Senate that would prevent financially viable companies from off-loading liabilities via the use of a legal manoeuvre, commonly referred to as the “Texas two-step;” this stratagem has been used by companies such as Johnson & Johnson and Georgia-Pacific to dump asbestos liabilities into soon to be bankrupted subsidiaries, thereby mothballing lawsuits from injured and dying claimants. 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.4
With the legal, judicial and environmental climate turning against asbestos, it’s becoming more usual to see negative comments appear in formerly neutral and/or pro-asbestos countries. On July 23, 2024, a Russian language commentary about the growing popularity of green technologies was uploaded to an Azerbaijan news portal.5 Journalist Elena Malakhova highlighted the hazard posed by the incorporation of asbestos within building products noting that: “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 incompatible with Azerbaijan's green priorities.6
On July 22, 2024, Malaysian campaigners from the Consumers’ Association of Penang went even further than the Azerbaijani journalist in a 15-page Memorandum to the Prime Minister and other Ministers which called for a Malaysian asbestos ban. 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.”7
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.
July 26, 2024
_______
1 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]. July 24, 2024.
https://www.gsei.com.cn/html/1628/2024-07-24/content-526425.html
2 National Audit Office. Progress on the Buckingham Palace Reservicing programme. July 23, 2024.
https://www.nao.org.uk/reports/progress-on-the-buckingham-palace-reservicing-programme/
3 Prieto, B. Johnson & Johnson Nears Settlement in Talc Dispute. July 23, 2024.
https://www.consumernotice.org/news/johnson-johnson-nears-settlement-in-talc-dispute/
4 Knauth, D. US Senate bill aims to curb Texas two-step bankruptcies. July 23, 2024.
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-bill-aims-curb-texas-two-step-bankruptcies-2024-07-23/
5 It is curious that this article was in Russian when the official language of Azerbaijan is Azerbaijani.
6 Malakhova, E. Больше, чем тренд [More than a trend]. July 23, 2024.
https://br.az/economy/73451/bolshe-chem-trend/
7 Consumers’ Association of Penang. Memorandum Call for Outright Ban on Asbestos. July 22, 2024.
https://consumer.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024-CAP-Memorandum_Ban-Asbestos_EN.pdf
