Laurie Kazan-Allen
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Laurie Kazan-Allen
A Well-Traveled Exhibition Comes Home!
When one gets to a certain age, facts relating to distant events can grow hazy but the details which follow are, to the best of my recollection, accurate (well, more or less!)
In the 1990s, I was invited to an exhibition at the Quaker Gallery in London of photographs taken in a South African community which had been devastated by asbestos mining. The dramatic black and white images by South African photographer Hein du Plessis blew me away. At the launch of that show, I was introduced to Hein by my friend Richard Meeran, the solicitor who had invited Hein “to record the lives and struggles of asbestos victims in the Northern Cape” after a chance encounter in Kimberley, South Africa.1
 Photograph taken in South Africa’s asbestos heartland by Hein du Plessis. Picture reproduced by kind permission of the photographer. |
 Community protest action against delays in the legal system in Britain. Picture reproduced by kind permission of the photographer Hein du Plessis. |
Following our discussion in London, Hein kindly provided me with a set of 32 A2 black and white laminated photographs with descriptive texts that we displayed at the world’s first international gathering of asbestos victims: the Global Asbestos Congress (GAC) 2000.
Fortunately, Hein was able to make the journey to Osasco, Brazil to discuss his very well-received collection of images. Many of the Brazilians attending the GAC identified with the plight of the South Africans exposed to deadly asbestos by a European multinational asbestos conglomerate more interested in profits than health.2
 Hein du Plessis with the portrait of Adam Oor shown in the foyer of the magnificent Municipal Theater of Osasco where the GAC was held,3 September, 2000. Picture from the archives of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS). |
At the inauguration of the Latin American Asbestos Meeting in Buenos Aires on October 1, 2001, the photographic exhibition was opened by Mlungisi Washington Makalima, South Africa’s new Ambassador to Argentina in the presence of the photographer. Congratulating Hein du Plessis on his work, the Ambassador highlighted the importance of the conference in addressing the global impact of the asbestos trade. The sessions which followed were attended by delegates from nearly all the countries in the region.4
On April 16, 2002, images from the exhibition which were displayed in the foyer of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine graphically illustrated the repercussions of decades of asbestos production in Prieska, South Africa by the British multinational: Cape plc. Against this background, the launch of the book Asbestos Blues: Labour, Capital, Physicians and the State in South Africa by Jock McCulloch was particularly poignant. The exhibition and book launch were part of the seminar: Asbestos: International Update on a Dying Industry and a Health Time Bomb.5
The next day, Hein showed slides from the exhibition at the annual asbestos seminar of the Parliamentary Asbestos Sub-Group in Westminster, London.
 The first slide in Hein du Plessis’ presentation to the Parliamentary seminar. Picture from the IBAS archives. |
Describing how he became involved with the Cape claimants from South Africa, Hein told the meeting that he hoped the photographs gave a voice to many people now silenced by death. The powerful and stark images clearly showed the suffering of the asbestos workers, their families and the contaminated communities The humanity of the photographer’s subjects pitted against the callousness of the corporation’s behaviour symbolized the universal struggle of all asbestos victims.
 Hein du Plessis and seminar organizer Laurie Kazan-Allen in the House of Commons. April 17, 2002. Picture from the IBAS archives. |
On April 18, 2002 a reception was held in the Reading Room of the South African High Commission, London to mark the victory of the South African asbestos claimants over Cape Asbestos Co. Ltd. Photographs of many of the injured were displayed by Hein du Plessis, the photographer whose work helped to stimulate public interest throughout the years during which the case was dragged through the British courts. George Johannes, the South African Deputy High Commissioner, welcomed guests to the High Commission and spoke of his long-standing interest in the case. From the beginning, the South African Government had been supportive of the attempt to obtain compensation for the victims. The Deputy High Commissioner thanked all the people who had worked so hard on behalf of the claimants singling out the work of claimants’ solicitor Richard Meeran of Leigh, Day & Co.
 Solicitor Richard Meeran, Deputy High Commissioner George Johannes and Laurie Kazan-Allen. Photograph from IBAS archives. |
In October, 2002, a selection of the images from the exhibition was displayed in the reception area outside the meeting rooms for the Hellenic Asbestos Conference, the first public event to address the Greek asbestos legacy.6
 Photographs from the exhibition dominated the reception area at the Henry Dunant Hospital in Athens where the Hellenic Asbestos Conference was held. Picture from the IBAS archives. |
When I contacted Hein this month (November 2025) to ask about his recollections of traveling with the exhibition, he reminded me of his participation in the Athens event. I then remembered how surprised we had both been to learn that like South Africa and Brazil, Greece had also been an asbestos-producing country.
The portfolio of Hein’s images next accompanied me on a trip from London to Amsterdam for the two-day bilingual international asbestos symposium entitled The Polluter Pays which was held by the Committee for Dutch Asbestos Victims on May 13 & 14, 2004. Once again, the South African images reinforced the message conveyed by European and American experts addressing the meeting7: asbestos is a killer!
After Amsterdam, things get a bit hazy. I believe I lent the collection to a colleague in Liverpool to display at an asbestos event organized by the Merseyside asbestos victims’ group. From there, it may have gone to Manchester for use at an event held by the local victims’ group.
At some point the photos wound their way to Barrow-in-Furness, an area with one of the worst incidences of mesothelioma in the UK. When my colleague from Barrow emigrated to New Zealand, the photographs went with her and there they stayed until eight years later when she was packing up to come back to the UK. “Do you still want the South African photos” she wrote, “I found them at the back of a large cupboard in the study?”
After a round-trip journey of 22,000+ miles, the exhibition which originated in South Africa and traveled extensively in Latin America and Europe, is now firmly settled. It has found a permanent home in the Strathclyde asbestos archive – officially known as the Strathclyde University Archives and Special Collections – with other IBAS documents and resources. I have no doubt that these images will continue to “give a voice to the many people now silenced by death” for decades to come.
1 Kinley, D. In a Rain of Dust. Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos. John Hopkins University Press, 2025, pp. 169-170.
2 Some of the photographs exhibited in Osasco can be viewed here:
https://ibasecretariat.org/gac-2000-annals/gac-2000-ann-a17-1-hdp-p.pdf
3 The commentary which accompanied this image said: DIEDERICK OOR, Born12/05/34 - Died 20/09/99. "My dad used to work at Koegas. He suffered a lot before he died, and that makes me sad. My mother died from the same asbestos dust. Maybe my sister will also die from it. These things happen…" Adam Oor.
4 Kazan-Allen, L. Latin American Asbestos Meeting. November 28, 2001.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka_lat_amer_report.php
5 Kazan-Allen, L. Asbestos Seminar in London. March 22, 2002.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka_asb_seminar_london.php
Kazan-Allen, L. London Asbestos Meetings, April 2002. May 2002.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka_london_meetings_rep_0402.php
6 Kazan-Allen, L. Hellenic Asbestos Conference: Report. November 18, 2002.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka_hellen_asb_conf_rep.php
7 Kazan-Allen, L. Asbestos Conference, Holland: The Polluter Pays. August 2, 2004.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/lka_rep_conf_holl_may_04.php
Update from Mother Russia’s Asbestos Heartland!
Recent reports about Russia’s economic prospects look less than glowing, with talk of declining liquid reserves, a growing budget deficit, soaring inflation, a collapse in the value of the ruble, labor shortages, frozen financial assets and other consequences of Western sanctions.1 Russian companies must all, to some extent, be having to tighten their belts under the wartime conditions. Or so you would have thought.
From the contents of the latest newsletters of Russia’s two largest asbestos conglomerates it seems that life in the company towns of Yasny (Orenburg Region) and Asbest (Sverdlovsk Region) remains copacetic.2 The October 3, 2025 edition of the weekly news publication of Orenburg Minerals – Russia’s largest asbestos producer – is replete with news of corporate donations, awards for loyal employees, pension changes and vaccination schedules; pictures of multi-colored flowers and autumn leaves adorn the six-page document.3
The October 2025 issue of the four-page Ural Chrysotile Newsletter, produced by the country’s 2nd largest asbestos conglomerate – Uralasbest – did contain noteworthy articles, including those dealing with the introduction of processes for recycling chrysotile asbestos mining waste into “environmentally friendly insulation and building products” such as those sold under the “trusted” Ecover and Versta brands.4 Additional Uralasbest products based on this toxic technology include stabilizing additives, for use in road construction, and non-metallic building material sold under the trade name: Stilobite.5 What most consumers will not appreciate is that the tailings (debris) from the asbestos mines are heavily contaminated with carcinogenic fibers, containing as much as 40% asbestos by weight. All of this is incorporated into the new products made by the Uralasbest subsidiaries.
Speaking at a September 2025 ceremony marking the commencement of production at Uralasbest’s four-billion-ruble recycling facility in Voskhod, 70 miles from the company’s headquarters in the town of Asbestos, the new Regional Governor Denis Pasler emphasized: “the environmental aspect of this new enterprise. Millions of tons of existing industrial waste will be processed annually into products in demand in our country.”
It seems that Russian politicians as well as industry stakeholders are complicit with the industrial deceit underlying sales of carcinogenic products to unsuspecting consumers at home and abroad. Far from labeling these goods with hazard warnings they are marketed as green and environmentally friendly! Sadly, the world has grown all too familiar with Russian propaganda masquerading as truth but this really does mark a new low in commercial behaviour. Or does it? Answers on a postcard please!
1 Sauer, P. Is Trump right that Russia’s economy is on the brink of collapse? September 25, 2025.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/sep/25/is-trump-right-that-russian-economy-is-on-brink-of-collapse
2 The archives of the Orenburg and Uralasbest newsletters can be accessed at:
https://orenmin.ru/category/newspaper/ and https://www.uralasbest.ru/news/uralskij-hrizotil
3 The October 3, 2025 issue of Orenburg Minerals’ Mountain Flax (a Russian nickname for chrysotile asbestos) can be accessed at:
https://orenmin.ru/wp-content/uploads/114603102025.pdf
The October 2, 2025 edition of the Ural Chrysotile Newsletter can be accessed at:
https://www.uralasbest.ru/assets/dok/gazeta/2025/09.pdf
4 Бренд, которому доверяют [A Trusted Brand]. October 2, 2025, page 1.
Анализ и изменение Процессов [Analysis and Change of Processes]. October 2, 2025, page 2.
https://www.uralasbest.ru/assets/dok/gazeta/2025/09.pdf
5 В добрый путь! Денис ПАСЛЕР отметил успехи коллектива комбината “Ураласбест” в диверсификации производства [Bon Voyage! Denis PASLER noted the success of the Uralasbest plant team in diversifying production]. September 4, 2025, pages 1,2.
https://www.uralasbest.ru/assets/dok/gazeta/2025/08.pdf
You Will Know Them by the Company They Keep
On September 10, 2025 I was privileged to watch a preview of a new asbestos documentary by Spanish film-maker Isabel Andrés Portí. The 70-minute film, entitled: La Fibra Sensible (Moral Fiber) mentioned that Spain’s former asbestos giant – the Uralita company – had been taken over in the 1940s by supporters of the fascist leader General Francisco Franco. For decades, Uralita prospered under that ownership and the use of asbestos-cement building materials became widespread throughout the country. Sadly, the consequences of this were all too predictable.
It got me to wondering about the links of other asbestos entrepreneurs and companies with repressive regimes. I didn’t have far to look.
 Throughout the 20th Century, Asbestos Conglomerates from Europe and North America Divided Global Markets, Fixed Prices and Suppressed Evidence Documenting the Asbestos Hazard. |
In the English language version of her 2007 book Die Asbestluge [The Asbestos Lie], Swiss-Italian investigative journalist Maria Roselli detailed the use of slave labor under the Nazis for the production of asbestos-cement building products as well as the close ties which existed between representatives of the Eternit asbestos group and members of Germany’s National Socialist Party. The testimony in Roselli’s book by Belarusian Nadya Ovsyannikova, one of the “hundreds of thousands of men and women” deported to Germany against their will, was graphic:
“I had to drag the finished asbestos cement panels from the shipping hall onto the train… It was ice cold. The work was very hard. Each panel weighed about twenty kilos, which made my arms ache. I was close to despair. Sometimes I just wanted to die. I cried a lot…The factory where I worked was called Eternit and was on the bank of the canal on Kanalstraße.”1
Under the military dictatorship which ruled Brazil from 1964-1985, the fortunes of Eternit S.A., Brazil’s largest asbestos conglomerate, flourished: according to Roselli “the profits on invested capital of Eternit SA in Brazil in 1988 amounted to a phenomenal forty-three percent.” The company’s “phenomenal” success was grounded on decades of expansion that had been achieved as a result of the “good relations with the military officers in power and their complete support.”2
At around the same time as Eternit S.A. was expanding under the auspices of Brazil’s military rulers, ~3,700 miles northwest of São Paulo, another Eternit company was in bed with Nicaragua’s dictator. As Maria Rosselli revealed in her book, Eternit ran its commercial operations in Nicaragua “directly with the dictator Anastasio Somoza, giving him a majority share in the local asbestos cement subsidiary Nicalit.”3
Healthy profits were also enjoyed by asbestos companies under South Africa’s apartheid regime (1948-1994) which delivered cheap labor, enforced discriminatory legislation, and eschewed costly health and safety regulations. European asbestos mining companies including Cape plc, Turner and Newall Ltd. (T&N), Griqualand Exploration and Finance (GEFCO) and Everite-Eternit exploited asbestos resources in the Northern Cape, the Northern Province and Mpumalanga to the benefit of their shareholders and the detriment of workers, local people and the environment.4 In their seminal work: Defending the Indefensible historians Jock McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale wrote:
“Under the sway of apartheid, British firms did what they liked. The mills were choked with dust and the practice of sacking disabled workers removed the most obvious cases of asbestosis from the sight of regulatory authorities.”5
The publication in 1974 of the Parliamentary Report: Investigation of wages and conditions of African workers employed by British firms in South Africa was categorical about the abuse of T&N’s workers. As historian Geoffrey Twedale explained: “Turner & Newall were exposed as one of several companies that paid indigenous workers below the poverty level and operated wage discrimination.”6
Commenting on 25-years employment at an asbestos factory operated by the Everite-Eternit group in Brackenfell, 20 miles from Cape Town, trade unionist Fred Gona said:
“There was dust everywhere. No one told us that it was deadly. If one of us got sick, the company transported him back to his homeland. No one knew why the workers were getting sick. Explanations only began in the 1980s when the unions organised at Everite. Management came under pressure and they realised that they could no longer stay silent. They handed out flyers to tell us to watch out for the dust. They called the deadly asbestos dust ‘Mister Fibre’ in these flyers and told us that this gentleman wouldn’t do anything to us as long as we didn’t disturb it. But if we did disturb it, it would become dangerous. That was absurd. They treated us like stupid children. They should have said that asbestos dust causes cancer.”7
Of course, Fred Gona was right. Asbestos companies should have warned their workers, trade unions, consumers and governments about the deadly hazard. Their criminal negligence devastated families, decimated communities and poisoned the natural and built environment.
You could say that that was then and this is now but last week the Information Office of Uzbekistan, the world’s biggest per capita user of asbestos, issued a press release endorsing the country’s continued use of “safe” asbestos roofing.8 In many parts of the world, nothing has changed.
1 Roselli, M. The asbestos lie. The past and present of an industrial catastrophe. [pages 50,56,61]. 2014.
https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/FINAL_The_Asbestos_Lie.pdf
2 Giannasi, F. Eternit in Brazil. Chapter 13. Eternit and the Great Asbestos Trial. 2012.
https://ibasecretariat.org/eternit-great-asbestos-trial-toc.htm
3 Anastasio Somoza was the “de facto ruler of the country between 1967 and 1979.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastasio_Somoza_Debayle
Roselli, M. The asbestos lie. The past and present of an industrial catastrophe. [page 52]. 2014.
https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/FINAL_The_Asbestos_Lie.pdf
Tweedale, G. Review: Maria Roselli, The Asbestos Lie: The Past and Presentof an Industrial Catastrophe. 2014.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/gt_review_roselli_the_asbestos_lie.php
4 According to Maria Roselli: “In 1977, asbestos production peaked at 380,000 tons making South Africa the third biggest supplier in the world. GEFCO achieved record output and financial returns during the decade commencing in 1966; in 1970, company profits rose by thirty-two per cent.”
Also see: Kazan-Allen, L. South Africa: The Asbestos Legacy. May 2, 2000.
https://www.ibasecretariat.org/lka_sa_leg.php
5 McCulloch, J., and Tweedale, G. Defending the Indefensible. The Global Asbestos Industry and its Fight for Survival. [p. 45]. 2008.
6 Tweedale, G. Magic Mineral to Killer Dust. 2001.
Great Britain Parliament. House of Commons. Expenditure Committee. Trade and Industry Sub-Committee. Investigation of wages and conditions of African workers employed by British firms in South Africa.
Fifth Report. 1974.
7 Roselli, M. The asbestos lie. The past and present of an industrial catastrophe. [pages 50,56,61]. 2014.
https://www.etui.org/sites/default/files/FINAL_The_Asbestos_Lie.pdf
8 Use of Chrysotile-Cement Roofing Sheets Declared Safe Official Clarification. September 19, 2025.
https://www.uzdaily.uz/en/use-of-chrysotile-cement-roofing-sheets-declared-safe-official-clarification/
Two Museums, Two Realities
At about the same time as a new exhibition – Lights Under the Earth – opened at the Minéro Museum, in Thetford Mines, Quebec this Summer, news was circulating that the curators of another museum exhibit – A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County – had won a prestigious national award.1 The two exhibits could not be more different with one focusing on the “proud” industrial history of asbestos mining in Quebec and the other examining the deadly repercussions of occupational asbestos exposures in Illinois. At the heart of both exhibits was the substance formerly revered in Canada as “white gold,” but now universally denounced as the “killer dust.”
My attempts to gain firsthand information about the new “immersive experience” at the Minéro Museum proved unrewarding; emails sent to museum personnel, curators and journalists went unanswered. Judging by the publicity and news reports, the focus of the multimedia resources on show was “the daily life of asbestos miners.” Did the curators cover various negative aspects of the workers’ everyday life at the King Asbestos Mine, operational from 1879 till 1986, such as the shortened lifespan of miners and millers, many of whom died from mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis? Was the elevated incidence of mortality caused by environmental exposures amongst local people mentioned? From the available information, I am guessing not, although one visitor interviewed spoke of a grandfather she had never known who had worked in the mines. Did he die prematurely from an asbestos-related disease? The journalist who interviewed Marie-Hélène Bégin neglected to ask that question.2
According to Maryline Champagne, Executive Director of the Minéro Museum, the new exhibition – created by the Matièrs Studio in Quebec – used restored heritage buildings, video projections, historical artifacts, touchscreens, virtual reality and sensory experiences, to introduce the public not only “to the life of a miner underground, their daily life, but also their life outside.” Contemporaneous resources and miners’ testimonies were used to “present highlights from different eras,” with a special display featuring information about the King Mines’s hockey, baseball and bowling teams. Amongst the financial supporters of the exhibition, which will close in mid-October 2025, were the Quebec and Federal Governments.3
Eleven hundred miles southwest of Thetford Mines, a temporary museum exhibit entitled A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County had another story to tell.4 One of “intentional deceit” and industrial greed. It was, said Museum Executive Director Julie Emig:
“a story larger than just McLean County. It is a universal story of people being sacrificed and forced to endure toxic conditions and environmental hazards, all in the pursuit of profit. It illustrates a national tragedy on a local scale, while educating the public about the dangers of asbestos and honoring our neighbors who lost their lives.”5
 Picture courtesy of McLean County Museum of History, Bloomington, Illinois, USA. |
Living thousands of miles away from McLean County, I was unable to visit this exhibit in person. Fortunately, I came across a stunning 14-page essay by Ericka Wills – “A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McClean County” From Family History to Community Museum Exhibit. As a young man, the author’s beloved grandfather – “Grandpa Tipsord” – had worked in Bloomington, Illinois for the United Asbestos & Rubber Company (UNARCO). Like many of his co-workers, he died at a young age from an asbestos-related disease – in this case mesothelioma – contracted as a result of toxic workplace exposures.6
Today Ms. Wills is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin School for Workers; her text, however, is imbued with the sense of loss of a grieving granddaughter and not the objectivity of a dispassionate academic. She experienced the exhibit with her grandmother, mother and daughter. As a family, they listened to recorded testimonies by UNARCO workers, studied newspaper exposés, read confidential corporate documents and learned about the asbestos industry’s suppression of damning medical evidence.
 One hundred and thirty McLean County workers or family members exposed to contaminated work clothes died from asbestos-related diseases. Picture courtesy of McLean County Museum of History, Bloomington, Illinois, USA. |
Ten years of work went into the conceptualization, research and planning of “A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McClean County.” According to Ms Wills’ paper, the painstaking nature of the work by the curators and museum personnel was well worth the effort. This personal assessment was endorsed by the American Association for State and Local History which earlier this Summer announced that the exhibit had won a National Award of Excellence.7
It is noteworthy that unlike the Canadian exhibit which received government funding, this exhibit was sponsored by the Midwest Region of LiUNA – “the eighth largest labor organization in America.”
For much of the 20th century, the U.S. was the largest market for Canadian asbestos. It is probable that asbestos produced at the King Asbestos Mine in Thetford Mines, Quebec was used by workers at UNARCO factories in Bloomington, Illinois and elsewhere. Without having visited the Quebec exhibit, it’s impossible to know what position the curators took on the asbestos hazard. Judging by what I have seen online, it seems likely that they overlooked the deadly health effects of asbestos mining on workers, family members, consumers and the environment. I would, however, be grateful to receive information from the curators, museum staff and/or local people who visited the Minéro Museum to confirm or disprove this assertion.
1 Grenier, P. Une expérience immersive pour mettre en lumière le quotidien des mineurs d’amiante [An immersive experience to highlight the daily lives of asbestos miners]. July 18, 2025.
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2179512/exposition-amiante-minero-kb3-mine
Asbestos Exhibit Receives National Award of Excellence from AASLH. June 12, 2025.
https://aaslh.org/aaslh-2025-leadership-in-history-award-winners/
2 Ibid.
3 Fortier, C. «Des lumières sous terre»: une nouvelle expérience immersive au cœur du patrimoine minier
[“Lights Underground”: a new immersive experience at the heart of mining heritage]. July 17, 2025.
https://www.courrierfrontenac.qc.ca/infolettre/des-lumieres-sous-terre-une-nouvelle-experience-immersive-au-coeur-du-patrimoine-minier/
Facher, A. Nouvelle expérience immersive chez Minéro – Musée de Thetford | KB3 [New immersive experience at Minéro – Thetford Museum | KB3]. July 17, 2025.
https://monthetford.com/nouvelle-experience-immersive-chez-minero-musee-de-thetford-kb3/
4 Asbestos Exhibit Receives National Award of Excellence from AASLH. July 10, 2025.
https://mchistory.org/blog/asbestos-exhibit-receives-national-award-of-excellence
A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McLean County.
https://mchistory.org/exhibits/permanent/a-deadly-deception-the-asbestos-tragedy-in-mclean-county
5 Cooper, A. McLean County museum receives national award for asbestos exhibit. July 18, 2025.
https://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/mclean-county-museum-receives-national-award-for-asbestos-exhibit/
Rodgers, T. Museum Highlights the History of Asbestos in America. September 10, 2024.
https://www.asbestos.com/news/2024/09/10/museum-highlights-the-history-of-asbestos-in-america/
6 Wills, E. “A Deadly Deception: The Asbestos Tragedy in McClean County” From Family History to Community Museum Exhibit. December 29, 2024.
https://journals.uwyo.edu/index.php/workingclassstudies/article/view/9239/6929
7 Ibid.
Newton’s Third Law of Asbestos Politics
According to Newton’s third law of motion “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.” From what I have observed over the last 30 years, it seems that a corollary of this proposition relating to asbestos politics is also valid.
Elements of “Newton’s” asbestos corollary can be detected in actions taken last month by the President of the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF) Luís Roberto Barroso. Despite the unilateral asbestos ban adopted in 2017 by the Court, asbestos is still being mined in Brazil. How is this possible when asbestos production was outlawed by no less a body than the Supreme Court itself? Ironically, it seems that the same body which passed the prohibition is complicit in this startling failure of compliance. On June 21, 2025, it was reported in “O Popular” – a Brazilian newspaper based in the asbestos mining state of Goiás – that the President of the STF had once again postponed a hearing on the unconstitutionality of the Goiás state law which exempted the Cana Brava asbestos mine from the STF ruling.1
 STF President Luís Roberto Barroso |
Meanwhile in the United States, formerly a frequent recipient of Brazilian asbestos exports, another asbestos anomaly was emerging. On June 16, 2025, President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) confirmed its intention to overturn asbestos prohibitions implemented by the previous administration.2 Commenting on the implications of this news, Professor Arthur Frank from Drexel University warned:
“This is another attempt by industry, going back to when they blocked the first EPA asbestos ban in 1989, to allow for continued use of a deadly material responsible for some 40,000 U.S. deaths and some 250,000 worldwide deaths each year... We know in some settings as little as one day of exposure can give some individuals cancer.”3
Equally concerned about the hazardous road the EPA was traveling, Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, said:
“The Trump Administration’s ‘Polluters over People’ agenda is once again threatening our health, this time undermining the chance for all Americans to have a future free of asbestos exposure. We know that asbestos is a killer, which is why it has been banned in more than 50 countries around the world. The United States was starting to catch up, but the Trump EPA is delaying and rolling back this vital public health safeguard, undermining this progress. I will continue to explore all options – including legislation – to phase out all dangerous asbestos fibers and provide stronger protections for our health.”
In March 2024, Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld a petition by civil society groups and activists which called on the government to make it mandatory to affix hazard warnings on all asbestos-containing roofing material.4 In retaliation, an Indonesian asbestos industry trade association (FICMA) lodged a lawsuit against the petitioners which demanded massive damages for future losses its members will sustain. After six months of hearings, motions and deliberations, in February 2025 the Chief Judge of the Central Jakarta District Court Marper Pandiangan rejected FICMA’s arguments.
 Dhiccy Sandewa, Indonesian campaigner, examining asbestos-containing roofing in Bandung, Indonesia. Picture courtesy of APHEDA. |
Commenting on the February 13, 2025 decision, Dhiccy Sandewa – Chairman of the Community-based Consumer Protection Agency LPKSM Yasa Nata Budi, one of the groups sued by FICMA – said:
“This court victory is just one of many steps we have taken to protect consumers from asbestos-related diseases. We will continue to assist consumers who have used asbestos roofs without complete information about the dangers. The gong has sounded, now we will immediately enter the next step.”5
In June, it was confirmed that this case was now bound for Indonesia’s Supreme Court.
Of course, we know, that there is no such thing as Newton’s asbestos corollary. The force motivating asbestos profiteers is human venality and corporate greed not physics. Vested interests continue to draw on well-honed techniques, few of them moral and some downright illegal, to suppress evidence, browbeat international agencies, mislead national governments and sow confusion about the use of a Group 1 carcinogen. How do they sleep at night?
1 Salgado, C.H. Presidente do STF prorroga vista e volta a adiar julgamento sobre amianto [Supreme Federal Court extends the hearing and postpones the trial on asbestos again]. [Behind a paywall]. June 21, 2025.
https://opopular.com.br/opiniao/coluna-giro/presidente-do-stf-prorroga-vista-e-volta-a-adiar-julgamento-sobre-amianto-1.3279379
2 Kazan-Allen, L. Thinking the Unthinkable: Rolling Back US Asbestos Protections. June 25, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-thinking-the-unthinkable-rolling-back-us-asbestos-protections.php
3 Laws, J. Trump Considering Asbestos Ban Reversal Sparks Warning: ‘Lives at Risk’. Newsweek. June 20, 2025.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-rolling-back-asbestos-ban-sparks-warning-lives-risk-2088221
4 LION Press Release. Menang! Penjualan Atap Asbes Harus Cantumkan Label Peringatan [Win! Asbestos Roof Sales Must Include Warning Labels]. February 17, 2025.
http://lionindonesia.org/berita/2025/02/17/menang-penjualan-atap-asbes-harus-cantumkan-label-peringatan/
Kazan-Allen, L. Indonesian Court Supports Consumers’ Asbestos Lawsuit. February 20, 2025.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-indonesian-court-supports-consumers-asbestos-lawsuit.php
5 LION Press Release. Menang! Penjualan Atap Asbes Harus Cantumkan Label Peringatan [Win! Asbestos Roof Sales Must Include Warning Labels]. February 17, 2025.
http://lionindonesia.org/berita/2025/02/17/menang-penjualan-atap-asbes-harus-cantumkan-label-peringatan/
Great News from Canberra!
In the King’s Birthday Honours List published in Australia on June 8, 2025, Phillip Hazelton from Australia’s Union Aid Abroad (APHEDA) was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for his “for significant service to the trade union sector, particularly asbestos eradication advocacy.”1
 Phillip Hazelton, APHEDA, at the April-May 2025 meeting of the UN’s Rotterdam Convention in Geneva, Switzerland. On his right is Liam O’Dwyer, Assistant Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Photo courtesy of APHEDA. |
Having worked with Phillip for more than 20 years, I was delighted with this news as were many of his colleagues around the world who sent congratulatory emails as soon as the news was circulated. Messages flew in fast and furious on June 11 from asbestos victims’ campaigners, grassroots activists, trade unionists and others in Australia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Korea, Canada, the UK and the US, with asbestos expert Dr Barry Castleman summing up the feelings of many of us with his comment:
“Wonderful. Phil is an exemplary contributor to public health in Asia. The initiative of the Australian unions has been so important in raising asbestos awareness in countries where work on the ground is so difficult and essential. People like Phil should be celebrated as examples to young people looking for inspiration.”2
In my long years of ban asbestos campaigning I have been privileged to work with people all over the world and I can say, hand on heart, that Phillip Hazelton is one of a select number who has been good to his word every single time. If he says something will happen it will – even if it takes a very long time to get to his stated aim as was the case in getting the Asia Development Bank and the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank to adopt provisos to their funding policies which forbid the use of asbestos products.
Of course, Phillip does not work alone and his people skills, creativity and strategic thinking have made him a much-valued partner to trade union and civil society campaigners.
 Phillip making a presentation at an Asbestos Awareness Raising Workshop in Laos, 2019. Photo courtesy of APHEDA. |
 Speakers and delegates at Asbestos Workshop in Cambodia, 2019. Phillip third from left in the first row (always the tallest one in any photo). Photo courtesy of APHEDA. |
 Outreach asbestos work in Indonesia: Solidarity Tour 2018. Photo courtesy of APHEDA. |
I knew of Phillip’s work long before I met him. Our involvement was due to his role in APHEDA as the Program Manager of the Asbestos Elimination Campaign. When he took a brief break to work for the ILO, I noticed a huge fall in ban asbestos activity and I was counting the days until he returned to APHEDA.
Of the one million tonnes+ of asbestos still being used every year, the majority is destined for Asian countries. Phillip and APHEDA have collaborated with local and international partners to facilitate activities in key countries throughout Southeast Asia. Past and future projects include:
- ·facilitating medical examinations for at-risk workers, supporting student asbestos activism and developing awareness projects for first responders;
- ·implementing basic health checks for workers and community members working in or living close to asbestos factories;
- ·working to raise asbestos awareness, support advocacy and liaising with government officials and civil society decision-makers;
- ·negotiating with grassroots and government partners about the implementation of strategies for progressing asbestos eradication work at multinational agencies such as the WHO, the ILO, the UN, the ITUC etc.3
The work of APHEDA has been pivotal in helping turn the tide on asbestos throughout the region; central to that has, since 1988, been the work of Phillip Hazleton. Without posturing or self-promotion, he has dedicated his time and skill to alleviate suffering and create a sustainable and safer future for at-risk populations. It is a real fillip to see these efforts recognized by the Australian government.
1 University of Sydney 2025 King’s Birthday Honours recipients. June 9, 2025.
https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2025/06/09/university-of-sydney-2025-king-birthday-honours-recipients.html
King's Birthday 2025 Honours List. June 8, 2025.
https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8986858/kings-birthday-2025-honours-list/
2 Email from Barry Castleman. Received June 11, 2025.
3 Kazan-Allen, L. The Fall of the Asbestos Empire. September 17, 2017.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-the-fall-of-the-asbestos-empire.php
Kazan-Allen, L. The Rotterdam Convention 2019. May 10, 2019.
http://ibasecretariat.org/og-lka-the-rotterdam-convention-2019.php
Kazan-Allen, L. Pandemic Portends the Demise of the Asbestos Industry. February 23, 2021.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-pandemic-portends-the-demise-of-the-asbestos-industry.php
Kazan-Allen, L. Chaos has Come to the World of Asbestos. July 14, 2021.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-chaos-has-come-to-the-world-of-asbestos.php
Kazan-Allen, L. Serendipity in Melbourne. March 5, 2024.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-blogzxa218.php
Kazan-Allen, L. Ban Asbestos Campaign: Update Summer 2017. July 20, 2017.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-ban-asbestos-campaign-update-summer-2017.php
Asbestos: Past, Present and Future
Seventy-five years ago, the renowned US novelist William Faulker wrote:
“The past is never dead. It’s not even past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and eternity.”1
This quotation came to mind earlier this month when I was reading David Kinley’s new publication: In a Rain of Dust – Death, Deceit and the Lawyer Who Busted Big Asbestos. Faulkner’s words are certainly apt when it comes to understanding the history of “Big Asbestos.” In fact, they are so apt that it is a bit scary with the inclusion of “labor,” “environment” and “eternity.”2
Kinley’s book tells the tale of an epic legal battle fought out in UK courts by UK lawyers against a UK multinational: the Cape Asbestos Co. Ltd. The most contentious point in the litigation was whether a UK parent company could be held accountable for the actions of overseas subsidiaries. The House of Lords said YES!
I had closely followed the case from start to finish and had even been involved in some of the research. What struck me most when I completed Kinley’s book was how many of the issues raised in its pages remain unresolved. Asbestos mining sites and derelict factories are still endangering the health of communities in South Africa, Canada, Brazil, India and elsewhere. Asbestos fibers ingested decades ago – and still being ingested – are responsible for a worldwide epidemic killing 300,000+ people every year.3
As I was reading the book in London, 460 miles away in Geneva strenuous efforts to block progress on regulating the international asbestos trade were being made. Once again, vetoes by asbestos stakeholder governments – Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Zimbabwe, Laos, and Belarus – frustrated plans to protect humankind from deadly exposures.
The official report of consultations at the 12th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Rotterdam Convention on the prior informed consent procedure for certain hazardous chemicals and pesticides in international trade reported this development as follows:
“Recent Highlights: Long-standing issues that have eluded consensus include listing chemicals recommended by the CRC for inclusion in Annex III, including paraquat dichloride formulations, and chrysotile asbestos. The COP has agreed that each of these chemicals meets all criteria for listing but has not yet reached consensus to include them in Annex III. An intersessional process was established at COP7 in 2015, including meetings, surveys, and a working group that reported to COP9 (29 April – 10 May 2019).”4
Could the language have been more bland or uninformative? Fortunately, I received detailed feedback from colleagues who attended sessions where asbestos was discussed. They spoke of the hostile actions of a Russian-led cabal of asbestos refusniks who continued to defy the Convention’s scientific advisers and the will of the majority of delegations. Contrary to the UN’s dispassionate account, the reality of this betrayal of global populations will be measured in the lives lost to Russian, Kazakh, Chinese and Brazilian asbestos.
William Faulkner said “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” The failure by national governments and international agencies to address the asbestos hazard will ensure that the deadly epidemic wreaking havoc worldwide will continue for decades to come.
1 Faulkner, W. Requiem for a Nun. 1950.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Nun
2 One of the biggest global asbestos conglomerates was the Eternit Group; it’s name was chosen to underscore the fact that asbestos-cement products last “forever.” In many countries, asbestos-cement was/is synonymous with the word Eternit much as tissues in the US were also called Kleenex or vacuum cleaners Hoovers.
3 Takala J, Hämäläinen P, Sauni R et al. Global-, regional- and country-level estimates of the work-related burden of diseases and accidents in 2019. March 1, 2024.
https://doi.org/10.5271/sjweh.4132
4 IISD. Earth Negotiations Bulletin. Summary report, 28 April – 9 May 2025.
https://enb.iisd.org/basel-rotterdam-stockholm-conventions-brs-cops-2025-summary
Making UK Polluters Pay
More than 25 years after the UK banned asbestos and nearly 120 years after Parliament was first notified of the asbestos hazard, knowledge of “Britain’s dirty secret” is becoming ever harder to suppress. In recent weeks, mobilization over the national asbestos emergency has gathered pace with events in Parliament,1 the launch of a new interactive resource,2 an exposé in The Sunday Times,3 a campaign in The Daily Mail, news articles, online podcasts and TV interviews.
 |
Since 2022, members of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum (the Forum) have been campaigning vociferously to hold to account the UK’s 2nd largest asbestos conglomerate: Cape Asbestos. The Forum’s request for a £10 million lump sum donation for medical research into asbestos cancer was supported by dozens of MPs, a Parliamentary group, trade unions in the UK and abroad and thousands of Britons who signed an online petition. Altrad, the French multinational which bought Cape in 2017, has consistently refused to engage constructively with the Forum. For this reason, earlier this year Altrad was named one of three “winners” of the IBAS Devil’s Dust Award 2025.4
Asbestos Conglomerates from North America and Europe Divided Global Markets, Fixed Prices and Colluded to Misinform Workers, Consumers and Governments. |
To date, no one has targeted the UK’s former Asbestos Giant: Turner and Newall Ltd., more recently T&N plc.5 Individuals have brought compensation claims in their thousands but as for a donation for medical research or funding to eradicate the asbestos hazard caused by the company’s sale of toxic material, no. It seems totally beyond belief that a company which caused this country’s worst epidemic of occupational death continues to evade responsibility for the wider damage it did to communities and infrastructure.
In Flanders, 250+ miles southeast of London, Parliamentarians are not as shy of confronting former asbestos corporations. At a March 2025 hearing of the Flemish parliament Eternit, Belgium’s one-time “Asbestos Giant,” argued aggressively against the imposition of a mandatory obligation for polluters to pay for remediation efforts needed as a result of their historic processing of asbestos. It has been estimated that it would cost 100 million euros a year for twenty years to remove Eternit asbestos from Flemish territory. The company rejected these requests as “disproportionate.” In response, members of the Environment Committee passed a resolution seeking legal advice on government options.6 Surely, we should be doing the same?
1 All Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety & Health. Evidence: Public hearing on legacy of Cape asbestos. April 4, 2025.
https://www.appgosh.org/post/evidence-public-hearing-on-legacy-of-cape-asbestos
2 Boggan, S., Polland, C. EXCLUSIVE. Do you live in an asbestos hotspot? Interactive map reveals levels of deadly material in your area with one town's deaths EIGHT times higher than road traffic accidents. April 3, 2025.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14559475/Asbestos-hotspot-map-material-town-death.html
3 Daniel, H. Asbestos giant tried to silence victims with $3m offer. April 5, 2025.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/asbestos-giant-tries-to-silence-victims-with-3m-offer-5365v9s6l
4 Kazan-Allen, L. International Ban Asbestos Secretariat Devil’s Dust Awards 2025. January 17, 2025.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-international-ban-asbestos-secretariat-devil-s-dust-wards-2025.php
5 In 1997, T&N was taken over by the USA-based conglomerate Federal-Mogul.
6 Vlaamse meerderheid en oppositie willen asbestproducenten meer laten betalen [Flemish majority and opposition want asbestos producers to pay more]. March 26, 2025.
https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/03/26/vlaamse-meerderheid-en-oppositie-willen-asbestproducenten-meer-l/
Synchronicity or Coincidence – You Decide!
Years ago, when I worked in central London I remember the unpredictable but invariably protracted wait for the Number 31 bus. More often than not, two buses came along at once. Likewise, with a word or name you hear for the first time as an adult. Almost as soon as you hear it once, you hear it again.
A fortnight ago, my friend Sue told me she had heard a radio interview with the American artist Laurie Anderson: “she sounded just like you.” Of course, I googled “the other Laurie” and read about her long career as “an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker.” Very impressive!1
A few days later I contacted a Slovenian researcher about her 2024 book on the deadly asbestos legacy in Slovenia’s Soca Valley. She commented on my name saying that the only “Laurie” she knew about was ... Laurie Anderson!
[Okay, be patient, I’m getting to the point].
So here’s the thing. On Monday, March 3, I listened to episodes 1-5 of a new BBC podcast series: Assume Nothing, Killer Dust.2 Podcast producer Ophelia Byrne explained that the genesis of the series was a 1967 article in a Northern Irish (NI) newspaper which described the top secret conditions in which a factory had opened in Ballyclare and the unusual prerequisite imposed on the 100+ employees who were required to sign “an oath of secrecy” as part of their terms of employment. For those of us well versed in asbestos lore, it came as no surprise that, Byrne explained, the factory was owned by Turner and Newall, the UK’s biggest asbestos conglomerate.
In the second instalment of the podcast, Ms Byrne revealed that an asbestos directive dated July 20, 1966 of the Northern Ireland Hospitals Authority (NIHA), which was tasked with building and maintaining NI Hospitals, was categorical about the:
“possible dangers which can arise through the inhalation of asbestos … The authority are informed that evidence has been accumulating that certain forms of tumour may be caused and that even light and occasional contact is regarded as a danger. As far as possible, the use of asbestos or materials incorporating asbestos fibre should be avoided in constructional work at hospitals.”
Due to unspecified but successful lobbying by Turners’ officials, the hard stance initially adopted on asbestos use in NI hospitals was watered down when the industry was asked by the NIHA to edit the text. Following two redrafts, the restrictions were withdrawn. As a result, the use of asbestos in NI hospitals continued unabated.
 Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast in the 1970s. |
The deadly consequences of the reversal of the NIHA’s asbestos policy were entirely predictable. Monica Johnston began her nursing career at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast in 1977, 11 years after the NIHA asbestos directive was neutered. She was diagnosed in 2024, aged 65, with mesothelioma after she collapsed at work. Ms Johnston said she hoped that speaking out would alert others to the ongoing asbestos hazard. “It's too late for me,” she said “and it's not about scaremongering, but I want to make people aware of the risks out there.”
The article about this personal tragedy of a much-valued and honored nursing professional was uploaded on March 5, 2025, almost simultaneously with Ophelia Byrne’s stunning new podcast.3 As with the Number 31 bus and Laurie Anderson, there appears to be a discernible synchronicity in the emergence of new secrets and crimes committed by this industry of mass destruction. Or, maybe it’s just random occurrences… with decades of unscrupulous behaviour and millions of people affected, almost any attempt to dish the dirt is bound to be productive. What do you think?
1 Laurie Anderson.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurie_Anderson
2 Assume Nothing, Killer Dust. A Very Strange Event. March 3, 2025.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0028jr1
BBC. Assume Nothing, Killer Dust. March 8, 2025.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2025/10/assume-nothing:-killer-dust
3 McCracken, N. Retired nurse with cancer is suing trust over asbestos exposure. March 5, 2025.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w11486p5wo
Twisted Logic and other Ruses of Asbestos Apologists
I am not sure there is a word for irony in the Russian language (of course there is but that would disrupt the flow of my thoughts). But if there is anything more ironic that what is to follow, I have yet to come across it.
The other day I happened upon an online Russian article with an intriguing title: Myths around asbestos: who finances research [English translation].1 Journalist Anna Sorokina argued that public “hysteria” about the asbestos hazard had been stimulated in the West by tobacco industry misinformation blaming asbestos exposures for the global rise in lung cancer incidence. The “propaganda” by big tobacco was, she argued, a cynical ploy to create confusion about the consequences of smoking and, as such, was an example of the use of “industrial distraction,” a concept discussed in a January 2025 manuscript published in the Philosophy of Science Journal. 2
My curiosity piqued, I sought out the paper referenced in which “industrial distraction” was explained by academics Cailin O’Connor and David P.W. Freeborn as:
“a common technique where industry actors fund and share research that is accurate, often high quality, but nonetheless misleading on important matters of fact. This involves reshaping causal understanding of phenomena with distracting information. Using case studies and causal models, we illustrate how this impacts belief and decision making even for rational learners, informing science policy and debates about misleading content.”
In the course of their 27-page scientific discourse, much of which focused on measures implemented by the Coca Cola company, the authors mentioned asbestos as follows:
“It is important to recognize that industrial distraction as used by Coca Cola is very far from an isolated case. Another notable case involved the tobacco industry, which spent enormous resources sowing doubt about the connection between tobacco and diseases like lung cancer and emphysema… Notably, they promoted research about alternative causes of lung disease, including asbestos exposure, air pollution, coal smoke, and even early marriage (O’Connor and Weatherall, 2019b).”
What struck me as ironic when reading the journal article, having first read the Russian one, was that many of the ploys described as tools of information distraction had been and still were used by pro-asbestos lobbyists:
- denying the existence of the problem i.e. national epidemics of asbestos-related diseases (ARDs);
- off-loading blame by claiming that only exposures to amphibole asbestos (amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, etc.) caused ARDs and not chrysotile (white) asbestos, the only type of asbestos still being used;
- commissioning research to “prove” that exposures to chrysotile (white) asbestos did not cause disease and that asbestos incorporated within an asbestos-cement matrix did not pose a risk to public health;
- promoting alternative research to explain away asbestos cancer – i.e. such as the link between SV40 and malignant mesothelioma causation.
When I emailed Professor Cailin O’Connor, the lead author of the paper on February 10 to tell her of the Russian article, she seemed unsurprised, replying “this isn’t the first case like this we’ve had in our work trying to illuminate industry influence on science.” From what I know about the ruthlessness of asbestos stakeholders, it certainly won’t be the last.
1 Sorokina, A. Мифы вокруг асбеста: кто финансирует исследования [Myths around asbestos: who finances research]. February 5, 2025.
https://dni.ru/society/2025/2/5/534614.html
2 O’Connor, C., Freeborn, D.P.W. Industrial Distraction. January 16, 2025.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/philosophy-of-science/article/industrial-distraction/BD9196079DD225D8095982CEB7986293
Asbestos Towns, Asbestos Didactics
People who refuse to face the truth are often accused of being in denial. In the company towns of Yasny (Orenburg Region) and Asbest (Sverdlovsk Region) – home to Russia’s biggest asbestos producers: Orenburg Minerals and Uralasbest – the residents’ perception of reality is carefully manipulated. As we have seen in asbestos-stakeholding countries the world over, national dialogues were/are tightly controlled by vested interests through a variety of methods including the use of: public relations specialists, spurious research by hired-gun scientists, biased news reports and industry-funded bodies masquerading as not-for-profits.1
For decades, corporate newsletters have been used as instruments for reinforcing the bonds between workers and asbestos companies. What is good/bad for Orenburg and Uralasbest is good/bad for its employees, their town and Mother Russia. A review of the online archives of these companies’ publications revealed loads of photos of apple-checked workers, long-lived employees and huge pieces of mining equipment.2 News of corporate-sponsored races and competitions vied for space with upbeat interviews with workers and company officials. Visits by foreign delegations were cheerfully reported with Orenburg boasting of visits in 2024 by groups from Vietnam, Indonesia, Belarus, and Uralasbest hosting guests from Cambodia and Thailand.
Very rarely, expressions of negativity find their way into these propaganda tools; in most such cases, problematic issues are raised only to be explained away such as in articles about Russian successes in vetoing UN attempts to regulate the asbestos trade.
 |
 |
|
| Uralasbest Newsletter Dec. 2024 (Issue 248). | ||
| Orenburg Newsletter Dec. 20, 2024 (issue 1109). |
In December 2024, however, disquiet had crept onto the newsletters’ pages in comments by Orenburg’s General Director A.A. Golma and Uralasbest’s General Director Yuri Alekseevich Kozlov.3 Golma warned readers that 2025 would be grim:
“we understand that since the global problems do not end, our difficulties will also remain, and maybe even multiply. The sanctions remain, perhaps there will be even more of them, so the year 2025 will be very difficult. This will be a year of low turnover…. It will be difficult with production, sales, logistics, tasks, and money.”4
Kozlov expressed concern about ongoing challenges including bureaucratic hurdles and logistical obstructions – i.e. persistent and continuing disruptions to asbestos cargo rail shipments.5
These warnings of hard times ahead are noteworthy. Of course, people blinded by decades of conditioning are unlikely to pay heed. On the off-chance that one or more of them might happen across this article, I would refer them to recent features from other asbestos-using/producing countries documenting the adverse consequences for workers and communities reliant on asbestos:
- India: Hidden disease in the world’s largest asbestos importer;6
- Indonesia – which between 2019 and 2023 used ~107,000 tonnes of asbestos a year – Breathless: Indonesian Asbestos Workers Speak Out;7
- Brazil – the world’s third largest asbestos producer – Banned in Brazil, asbestos gains a new lease of life with its own law in Goiás;8
- Japan – which carried on using massive amounts of asbestos long after other industrialized countries had banned it – Thirty years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, it has been revealed that the number of people suspected of suffering from health damage due to asbestos is more than three times higher than previously known... The damage may further increase.9
No data is publicly available about the level of asbestos contamination in the towns of Yasny or Asbest; judging from what we have seen elsewhere, however, it is likely that there is an increased cancer risk to the public due to pollution. In 2024, the occupational hazard of asbestos exposures in Russia was validated by the International Agency on Research for Cancer in a paper entitled: Cancer mortality in chrysotile miners and millers, Russian Federation: main results (Asbest Chrysotile Cohort-Study).10 Findings reported in the paper included the following:
“We observed an increased risk of mesothelioma with high exposure to chrysotile fibers; men were more affected than women…We observed an increased mortality for lung cancer in men with increasing cumulative dust exposure… exposure to dust containing chrysotile mined in the world’s largest active asbestos mine increases the risk of developing cancer in a dose-dependent manner.”11
A high price is being paid and will continue to be paid by ordinary Russians for the asbestos industry’s profits. Trusting a moribund killer industry with your family’s future is neither safe nor smart. Think on, Tovarich.
1 Examples of such organizations were/are: the Asbestosis Research Council (UK), the Asbestos Institute (Canada), the Asbestos Information Association of North America (US), the Permanent Committee on Asbestos (France), the Chrysotile Institute (Brazil), the Vietnam Roofing Association, Chrysotile Information Centre Thailand, Fibre Cement Products Manufactures’ Association (India) and the International Chrysotile Association.
2 The Orenburg weekly news publication is called Mountain Flax, a nickname for chrysotile asbestos. Its archive can be accessed at:
https://orenmin.ru/category/newspaper/
The monthly Uralasbest publication – Ural Chrysotile Newsletter – can be accessed at:
https://www.uralasbest.ru/news/uralskij-hrizotil
3 Kazan-Allen, L. Crisis for Russia’s Asbestos Producers? January 14, 2025.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-crisis-for-russia-s-asbestos-producers.php
4 The interview with A.A. Golma first appeared in a December 2024 issue of the Orenburg newsletter and was later published in January 2025 as a blog.
Подводим Итоги Года [Summary of our year]. January, 2025.
https://orenmin.ru/blog/podvodim-itogi-goda/
5 Uralasbest. December Uralasbest Newsletter. Issue 12, 2024.
https://www.uralasbest.ru/assets/dok/gazeta/2024/12.pdf
6 Quinn, T. Hidden disease in the world’s largest asbestos importer. December 20, 2024.
https://confrontpower.org/asbestos-and-india/
7 Reynolds, Z. Breathless: Indonesian Asbestos Workers Speak Out. November 5, 2024.
https://www.apheda.org.au/breathless-indonesian-asbestos-workers-speak-out/
8 Satie, A. Proibido no Brasil, amianto ganha sobrevida com 'lei própria' em Goiás [Banned in Brazil, asbestos gains a new lease of life with its own law in Goiás]. January 12, 2025.
https://noticias.uol.com.br/politica/ultimas-noticias/2025/01/12/mesmo-proibido-no-brasil-amianto-ganha-sobrevida-em-goias-com-nova-lei.htm
9 Nakabe, T. 阪神・淡路大震災から30年、アスベストによる健康被害の疑いはこれまで知られてきた人数の３倍以上と判明…被害はさらに拡大のおそれも[Thirty years after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake, it has been revealed that the number of people suspected of suffering from health damage due to asbestos is more than three times higher than previously known... The damage may further increase]. January 14, 2025.
https://slownews.com/n/n510d61709bf9
10 Schüz, J. et al. Cancer mortality in chrysotile miners and millers, Russian Federation: main results (Asbest Chrysotile Cohort-Study). January 22, 2024.
https://academic.oup.com/jnci/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jnci/djad262/7577290
11 Kazan-Allen, L. Cancer Crisis Looms as Asbestos Use Continues. February 5, 2024.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-cancer-crisis-looms-as-asbestos-use-continues.php
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