Collaboration Confirms Bahia’s Asbestos Catastrophe
For decades, the existence of a regional asbestos epidemic has been a fact of life for people living in towns near a former asbestos mine in Bahia, a state in the northeast of Brazil. A pioneering pulmonary screening program has now confirmed what local people already knew: there is, indeed, a high incidence of occupationally and environmentally caused asbestos cancers, asbestosis, pleural plaques and other respiratory diseases in the Bahia towns of Bom Jesus da Serra, Poções, Caetanos and Planalto.1
 Site of São Felix asbestos mine, Bom Jesus da Serra, Bahia, Brazil. Photo courtesy of ABREA/AVICAFE. |
The cause of the epidemic was the commercial exploitation of the São Felix asbestos mine located on a farm in Bom Jesus da Serra, formerly in the Poções District. In 1939, when the mine was opened it was owned by Brasilit, a subsidiary of the French Saint-Gobain Group; under this ownership, chrysotile (white) asbestos was mined there for ~30 years. When mining operations ceased, Brasilit just washed its hands of the site, the injured workers and the contaminated municipal infrastructure. The closed mine was purchased by Eternit S.A. which, although it never resumed mining operations, remains the succesor in interest of the site. Eternit S.A. is, however, still in the asbestos business as the owner of Brazil’s only working chrysotile asbestos mine; all the asbestos produced at the company’s Canabrava mine in Minaçu city, Goiás State is exported.
Campaigners from the affected areas in Bahia – belonging to the Association of Asbestos Contaminated Victims and Exposed Families (AVICAFE) – working with colleagues from the Brazilian Association of the Asbestos-Exposed (ABREA) have been researching the deadly impact of asbestos exposures for decades. In 2012, Esmeraldo dos Santos Teixeira and his colleagues from the Social Forum of Bom Jesus da Serra: Professor Jânio Oliveira Rocha and Mayor Edinaldo Meira Silva issued stern warnings about the future during a June 15th meeting at the People’s Summit, a nine-day side event to the United Nations Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.2
 The late and much missed AVICAFE campaigner Esmeraldo dos Santos Teixeira (known to everyone as Nego) at the People’s Summit in Rio de Janeiro on June 12, 2012. Photograph courtesy of ABREA. |
In an open letter distributed at the Rio de Janeiro meeting the Bahia activists condemned the mine owners for their actions:
“With the end of exploration in São Félix Mine, the company SAMA moved to the mine in the state of Goiás, Canabrava, leaving behind a trail of environmental degradation, (about 700 hectares) as well as several former workers and many families abandoned and with their health affected. It is observed that the company owners, even being aware of the seriousness of the problem, did not take upon themselves the responsibilities that were theirs: the rehabilitation of the degraded environment and the support of the families of the former workers affected by asbestos dust.
Against this background, we hereby warn the population about the various problems related to asbestos, highlighting the lack of environmental responsibility by the mining company (the former mine owner the Saint Gobain Group, the current owner Eternit S.A., successor in interest, and the mining company SAMA) and request that they take appropriate steps to make the environmental restoration of the whole area, as well as assume responsibility for all former employees and community members who have been and are being affected by the fiber. We can not remain silent before a problem that endangers the lives of the most diverse ecosystems. Thus, it is necessary for the immediate resolution of this problem so that future generations do not continue to suffer from the so-called ‘killer fiber.’”3
In September 2024, members of an asbestos medical taskforce conducted free health screening for hundreds of at-risk individuals from towns near the site of the derelict mine.4 The logistical challenges overcome to coordinate this landmark grassroots project were enormous; the fact that the bulk of the funding for this program was allocated from money impounded by the Labor Public Ministry (MPT) from penalties for collective moral damages paid by defendants convicted of failing to provide mandatory occupational protection for their employees was remarkable.
 Family Doctors Giving Advice to Asbestos-Related Disease Patients, April 2025. Photo courtesy of ABREA/AVICAFE. |
During March 31-April 2, 2025, the second phase of the outreach project was implemented. The taskforce reported that of the 584 people evaluated in September: 68 had contracted one or more asbestos-related disease; of the injured, 37 (54.4%) reported occupational asbestos exposures and 31 (45.6%) reported environmental exposures.5 As the cohort studied accounted for a sample of less than 1% of the total population of the region – ~65,000 people – these figures were indicative of a much wider problem.6
Based on the data and evidence collected, medical professionals from the taskforce made the following recommendations:
- all the patients examined should have a repeat spirometry test in 2025 and X-ray in 2026;
- municipal health services should periodically monitor individuals diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases, referring cases that require greater care to secondary and tertiary services;
- a timetable to periodically repeat tests and monitor those with normal standards should be created and put into practice to provide early diagnoses of any new health concerns;
- improving channels of communication for the recording of test results and the submission of relevant data to national government schemes tracking the incidence of asbestos-related diseases and mortality such as SINAN, SIM and Datamianto is crucial; 7
- in light of the elevated incidence of asbestos-related diseases in Bahia, the creation of a specialist facility for treating lung diseases, along with the necessary infrastructure for diagnosis and treatment, is essential.
According to ABREA Co-Founder and Facilitator of the Bahia Asbestos Taskforce Fernanda Giannasi:
“Identifying the injured is just the first step. Local health assistance involved in the taskforce will follow-up these diagnoses by facilitating a medical plan for every patient including arranging appointments, tests and treatment at clinics or specialist centers. The lack of specialized oncology services in the region is problematic but coordinated efforts are being made to ensure that anyone who has been diagnosed will be able to access the services he/she needs. Doctors from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo from governmental health institutions will support local doctors to make diagnoses via telemedicine. Until a specialist lung diseases center is built in Bahia, serious cases can be transferred to tertiary medical services in other regions. As always, ABREA and its partners will be there to support the injured.”8
May 1, 2025
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1 The causation of the ill health plaguing the local towns was reflected by the nickname given to the cemetery: “Branca de Neve” [Snow White]. This name was a reference to the white powdery asbestos fibers that enveloped the air and lungs of the workers and residents.
2 Kazan-Allen, L. Asbestos on Flamingo Beach! June 23, 2012.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-blogzxa24.php
3 Open letter to the Rio + 20 Organizers: United Nations Conference For Sustainable Development. São Félix Asbestos Mine: damaged man and nature. May 17, 2012.
http://www.ibasecretariat.org/rio20_open_letter_bom_jesus_da_serra_soc_forum.pdf
4 Kazan-Allen, L. September Miracle in Northeastern Brazil! September 16, 2024.
http://ibasecretariat.org/lka-september-miracle-in-northeastern-brazil.php
5 ibid.
6 Estudo revela impactos do amianto na saúde da população do sudoeste baiano – MPT-BA [Study reveals impacts of asbestos on the health of the population of southwestern Bahia – MPT-BA]. April 8, 2025.
https://agenciasertao.com/2025/04/08/exposicao-ao-amianto/
Estudo revela impactos do amianto na saúde da população do sudoeste baiano [Study reveals the impacts of asbestos on the health of the population in southwest Bahia]. April 10, 2025.
https://www.jornalfolhadoestado.com/saude-e-bem-estar/estudo-revela-impactos-do-amianto-na-saude-da-populacao-do-sudoeste-baiano
7 SINAN: Sistema de Informação de Agravos de Notificação [The Notifiable Diseases Information System (of the Brazilian Ministry of Health)].
SIM: Sistema de Informação sobre Mortalidade [Mortality Information System].
Datamianto: a Brazilian system for monitoring the health of asbestos-exposed workers and members of the public.
8 Email from Fernanda Giannasi. April 28, 2025.
