GLOBAL IMPACT OF ASBESTOS: THE ENVIRONMENT
Laurie Kazan-Allen
Presented at international conference: Health, The Environment and Justice
Venice, Italy, November 23-24, 2006

Setting the Scene
Between the beginning of the 20th century and the 1940s, world production ofasbestos rose by 2000%. Output grew steadily, peaking at 4.8 million tonnes (mt) in
1977. Despite a slight downturn, annual production remained at over 4 mt until 1991.1
In 2004, 2.2 mt of asbestos were mined. Dr. Jukka Takala, Director of InFocus
Programme SafeWork at the International Labour Organization, estimated that there
were 100,000 work-related asbestos deaths worldwide every year; he wrote:“The global figure is growing as more people will die from (asbestos) cancer ascommunicable diseases are reduced…reductions (in asbestos-related deaths)
will take place maybe only after 2020 if China and India introduce quickly
measures against asbestos.”
Dr. Takala’s figure of 100,000 deaths is often quoted in articles about asbestos.
Unfortunately, what many people fail to appreciate is that this figure only relates to
occupational asbestos exposure. Studies undertaken in South Africa, the UK, Italy,
Spain, Poland and Canada detail the impact of environmental asbestos exposures on
local populations. Regrettably, this source of contamination has produced andcontinues to produce many asbestos victims. This paper will discuss environmental
asbestos exposures experienced by communities in both producing and consuming
countries, as well as hazardous asbestos contamination liberated during natural andman-made disasters.
Producing Countries: Canada, Brazil and Kazakhstan
CanadaCanada has been mining chrysotile (white asbestos) for more than 100 years. In theprocess, billions of dollars have been earned by asbestos stakeholders; the Canadiannickname for chrysotile is “white gold.” The hidden cost of this production can bemeasured by the many Canadian lives lost due to occupational and para-occupational
asbestos exposures. Unfortunately, no one knows how many deaths there were as
there is no Canadian protocol for the collection of cancer or asbestosis data. The
consequences of environmental asbestos exposures and the impact on the environment
have also not been quantified. According to Daniel Green, the Scientific Advisor to
the Sierra Club of Canada:“The concentration of asbestos mining and production in the province ofQuébec resulted in environmental contamination. In 1970, asbestos fiber
airborne emissions in Québec were 13,325 t. 2 Tests of non-filtered surface
water of a lake in Thetford Mines showed 172 x106 fibres/litre; this is more than
three times the amount of contamination which was responsible for the outcry

1

over the use of asbestos filters in the processing of French wines some years
ago…”
In a paper published in October 2005, Historian Jock McCulloch described thesituation in one asbestos-producing community:“The Quebec mines polluted the environment and had an intrusive impact upon
communities that were dependent upon them for employment…(In 1949)
Burton Le Doux, interviewed miners and their families and described thedeplorable conditions under which they lived and worked (in the village of East
Broughton)… The western side of the village was inundated with asbestos fromthe mill and there was dust in all the houses…
Le Doux also found that the environmental exposure from the waste dumps was
such that whole families were afflicted with respiratory illness…
Over the next 20 years, there was some improvement in working conditions in
Canada’s mines. When T&N’s company physician Dr. J. F. Knox visited
Thetford in December 1946… he noted that none of the new houses or theschools had been ‘positioned with the idea of avoiding dust blown off theencircling (asbestos) dumps.’ He was particularly concerned that fiber from the
250 tons of waste dumped each day at Bell Mine was blown over the district.” 3
In one 40 km by 3 km area in Quebec there are in excess of 30 tailings dumps.
Houses are often close to the dump sites and asbestos-contaminated waste material is
widely used for landscaping. Air sampling conducted in 26 domestic residences in
Thetford in 2003 found that 15 samples out of 28 taken (54%) had a concentration ofchrysotile fibres higher than the AHERA 4 criterion.
Herve Rousseau and his family live on a farm in Thetford. Directly across from theRousseau home is a 300 foot mountain of asbestos tailings; one surveyor estimatedthat there are millions of tons of tailings on this site. Half a mile from the Rousseau
property is the abandoned Flintkote property, which consists of a large pit and an
enormous and unstable pile of tailings; there are no warning signs or fencing to keepout the public. An analysis of soil samples taken from this site revealed a chrysotile
content of 10%. In September 2003, Herve was informed by an independent asbestos
specialist that his home was too contaminated for human occupation. Readings of
289.8 structures per mm2 were more than four times the maximum US levels for reoccupying buildings after asbestos abatement (US level: 70 structures per mm2) 5 .
Photographs of mountains of asbestos tailings taken by industrial hygienist John Van
Raalte in Thetford, document the existence of an environmental disaster in the mining
region; no warning signs or security measures to prevent public access tocontaminated areas are visible. 6
What is the effect of the environmental asbestos contamination in the mining
region? According to the seventy-six page report Epidemiology of the Diseases
Caused by Exposure to Asbestos that documented 832 cases of pleural mesothelioma
in Québec between 1982 and 1996:2

“For men, only some parts of the United Kingdom, Australia and theNetherlands had rates significant higher than in Québec. For women no country
surpassed Québec.”
It is believed that the death rate among Quebec women is largely due toenvironmental asbestos exposures.
BrazilData from 2003, the latest year for which we have figures, showed that Brazil is
now the 5th largest chrysotile producer in the world. Chrysotile mining began in Brazil
at the Poções mine in Bahia in 1939. Mining operations, which continued at this 700
hectare site until 1967, have left widespread environmental contamination. There are
no data quantifying the incidence of asbestos-related disease amongst local people
living in close proximity to the Poções or Minaçu chrysotile mines or the Jaramataia,
Itapira or Virgolândia anthophyllite mines in Alagoas, São Paulo and Minas Gerais,
respectively.
Homeless people now live in and around the site of the derelict anthophyllite minein Itapira in São Paulo State. A sample of ore which came from this area was analyzed
in 1999 by the U.S. laboratory MVA Inc. which found:“Fibrous material was evident on the surface of the ore sample. Polarized lightmicroscopy analysis showed that the sample was composed of asbestiform andblocky fragments of orthoamphibole (anthophyllite) with a platy to fibrous nonasbestos mineral (talc)). Some of the talc fibers were intergrown with theanthophyllite fiber bundles. Clearly over 50% and probably over 70% of thesample consists of anthophyllite. SEM-EDXA analysis and ATEM analysis
confirmed the high numbers of asbestiform anthophyllite fibers in the sample.” 7
Kazakhstan
In 2000, Kazakhstan was the world’s 3rd biggest exporter of chrysotile. 8 Asbestos isa growth industry in Kazakhstan. In 1999 and 2001, the Kustanayasbest Asbestos
Mining and Concentration Plant in Almaty, Kazakhstan extracted, processed and sold
109,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes of asbestos, respectively. On September 14, 2001
the Kustanayasbest Plant announced plans to “extract, process and sell 200,000 tonnesof asbestos in 2001, which exceeds the five-year development plan by 10,000 tonnes.”
If the company’s objectives were achieved, production levels would have almost
doubled in four years. Increasing production results in increased asbestos waste.
There are no regulations for asbestos production, consumption or disposal; thousandsof tons of asbestos waste are routinely dumped within the city limits.
Consuming Countries: UK, Japan, Poland
UK
Nestled in the Spodden Valley of Rochdale, England is the 100 acre site of theformer Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) factory. 9 The world’s first asbestos mill,which began operations in 1879, grew into the largest asbestos textile factory in theworld; the processing of asbestos on this site continued for 115 years. Productionlevels at Rochdale increased throughout the 1960s and well into the 1970s. According3

to a company publication, TBA was producing 2,250,000 yards of asbestos cloth and
5,500,000 miles of asbestos yarn a year. 10 This scale of asbestos manufacture led tothe creation of substantial amounts of contaminated waste and debris. A TBA
document from 1957, describing the factory’s asbestos dust filtration system, noted:“the total weight of dust recovered in the filter rooms weekly is about 15,000
lbs., all of which is dumped to waste.”
Additional routes for contamination of the environment existed. Until the early 1960s,
the large hessian sacks of asbestos which arrived at the rail depot in Shawclough weretransported to the factory and were dropped down a concrete chute into the mill.
Residents described how as children they played on dusty bales of raw asbestos in therailway sidings; the whole area was a haze of dust with accumulated fibers hanging
off what were known as “the asbestos trees.” 11
In May 2004, the local newspaper announced that the former TBA site had beensold and that the new owners were a building consortium which intended to build 650
homes and a children’s nursery on the derelict site. On May 13th security fencing was
erected and shortly afterwards bulldozers arrived and forestry contractors begun work.
Residents alerted their neighbours to the fact that the Turners’ site was being dug up
with no environmental assessment and no attention paid to its asbestos contamination.
The community, many of whom had worked at the factory or lost loved ones who had
been TBA employees, was concerned about the hazards which this ill-considereddevelopment could cause.
A group called Save Spodden Valley was formed to prevent the haphazard
redevelopment of the site. 12 The Group maintained that town councillors and civic
authorities had been misled about the presence of asbestos on the site. In the planningapplication submitted in December 2004 for the proposed construction, the developers
reported that “no asbestos had been found in heavy rubble at the site;” there was, theysaid, “a notable absence of asbestos at the site.” 13 Jason Addy, spokesperson for Save
Spodden Valley, called this “a wilful omission.” He has since been proved right:“Independent tests that have just emerged, conducted in April 2005 by theInstitute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh, confirm that 4 of the
32 samples taken were positive for asbestos. One sample was 23 times higher
than the threshold for Hazardous waste (2.3% asbestos – the statutory limit is0.1% asbestos content by weight). In addition, the Government’s Health and
Safety Laboratory (HSL) tests in April 2005 indicated up to 1% of the asbestos
traces in 3 of 8 samples taken on crushed asbestos factory rubble on the site. In
total this confirms 8 positive test samples for asbestos throughout thedevelopment site. This figure does not include asbestos confirmed at known
dumps to the north of the site where there are no plans to build.” 14Japan
Amagasaki in Hyogo Prefecture in south-western Japan is an industrial town of
460,000 people. The production of asbestos-cement pipes was a local industry. During
the Summer of 2005, it was revealed that Amagasaki residents, whose only exposure
to asbestos was environmental, have succumbed to asbestos-related diseases in large
numbers; the incidence of mesothelioma, an asbestos cancer, is 9.5 times higher than4the national average among people who lived within 500 meters of Kubota
Corporation’s defunct asbestos-cement pipe factory. 15 Researcher Dr. Norio
Kurumatani from Nara Medical University reported: “The closer people lived to theplant the higher risk they carry of dying (from mesothelioma).” In their research, Dr.
Kurumatani’s team established that of 55 mesothelioma patients who lived close to
the Kubota factory, 46 had contracted the disease from environmental exposure. 16
Another Amagasaski plant produced asbestos-cement pipes at a site owned by the
Kansai Slate Corporation. Although the company moved its operations to Kakogawa
in 1973, Amagasaski residents who were environmentally exposed to asbestos prior tothen are also at high-risk.
The environment in Amagasaki remains polluted with asbestos. During the autumn
of 2004, 150 tons of asbestos-contaminated soil was found at the former site of theKirin Brewery Company’s Amagasaki factory. The company said that the 150-square
meter patch of soil, 50 centimeters thick, and one meter underground, was discoveredat the site of a former waste-water processing facility. In 2001, a large volume ofasbestos-contaminated soil and waste was found nearby at the Kubota Corporation’s
Kanzaki factory. It is believed that this contamination was caused by the leakage ofasbestos-contaminated water from the factory. A kilometer away in Nagasu, scraps ofasbestos pipes were found buried at another Kanzaki factory. According to a company
spokesperson, both incidents were reported to the Amagasaki municipal government
and the asbestos-contaminated soil and waste were properly disposed of.
PolandThe small town of Szczucin, Poland has achieved international notoriety for its highlevels of environmental asbestos contamination. In a paper presented in 2004 by Dr.
Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska, she explained that the asbestos industry in Szczucin
had been an integral part of the community:“Asbestos has been a way of life here since the asbestos cement factory opened.
Mothers knitted sweaters for children from asbestos cloth. The cloth was used
for rugs and slipcovers. Many residents routinely kept piles of asbestos handy
for little projects around the house. The piles would often be left uncovered
sending dangerous fibers aloft with every gust of wind.” 17
The Szczucin asbestos-cement plant used 305,000 tons of chrysotile (whiteasbestos) and 65,000 tons of crocidolite (blue asbestos); between 1959 and 1996, theplant’s emissions totalled 3.2 tons of crocidolite and 14.3 tons of chrysotile. Locally,asbestos waste was widely used in roads, farmyards, paving, houses, farm buildings
and tool sheds; mounds of asbestos waste were situated in residential areas and finegrain asbestos waste was spread on farmland. The total volume of asbestos waste andcontaminated soil in the area has been estimated by the Institute of Environmental
Protection as 0.8 - 1.0 million m3:•••

roads – 330,000 m3 (65.5 km)
farmyards – 8.6 hectares
driveways – 28.6 hectares

5Not surprisingly the incidence of mesothelioma amongst former workers and local
residents is high. In the period 1987-2003, there were 55 cases of pleural
mesothelioma in Szczucin: 28 cases among factory workers and 27 among local
inhabitants. In 2000-2003, there were 28 cases of pleural mesothelioma; the incidenceof mesothelioma in this community is 125 times that of the general population in
Poland. The local death rate from lung and gastric cancers is also high, as is that from
non-cancerous respiratory diseases. Over the period 1975-1996, the age at death fromlung cancer of Szczucin female inhabitants decreased by ten years.
Disasters:
The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 1995
The fall-out from asbestos material contained in buildings destroyed in the Great
Hanshin-Awaji earthquake, one of the worst earthquakes in recent years, was the
subject of a paper presented in 2004. 18 Atmospheric monitoring by the Environmental
Agency (Japan) after the earthquake showed an increase in ambient asbestos
concentration in the stricken zone; a diffusion model was used to assess how much ofthis contamination was due to sprayed-on asbestos insulation/fireproofing present inearthquake-damaged buildings at 16 sampling points. The scientists estimated thatprior to the earthquake there had been 3,740 tons of sprayed-on asbestos stock in theaffected buildings; the quake liberated 26.4 kg of asbestos into the environment.
Experiments revealed that demolition without pre-removal of asbestos caused thehighest levels of asbestos emissions into the surrounding areas; asbestos removal
costs accounted for 68-94% of total demolition costs.
The World Trade Centre 2001
The attack on the World Trade Center in NY liberated tons of asbestos into theatmosphere. While the Environment Protection Agency (EPA), under immensepressure from the federal government, gave the City an all-clear soon after the attack,respected scientists 19 , hired by unions, tenant associations and New York politicians,
reported dangerous levels of asbestos contamination in apartments and offices nearground zero. In December 2001, a study by the New York City Department of Healthand the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry announced that 13% ofresidential dust samples contained greater than 1% asbestos by weight; the amountfound in other samples of surface dust was up to 4% by weight.
Dr. Cate Jenkins, an environmental scientist who had worked for the EPA for 22
years, is worried:“If people continue living and working in places that still have dust in the
carpets, furniture, drapes and heating and cooling system, these fibers willcontinue to be resuspended… The elevated risk could be from around one-in-athousand extra cancers to maybe as high as one in 10.” 20
Concluding Thoughts
If we have learned anything from the tragic asbestos legacy, it is that the impact ofhazardous asbestos exposures continually exceeds predictions. 21 The legacy ofasbestos consumption is: ill-health, death, contaminated infrastructures, polluted land
and major public health problems. While forty countries have adopted national

6asbestos bans, consumption of this hazardous substance is increasing in many
developing countries.
The use of asbestos was banned throughout the European Union as of January 1,
2005, but despite this ban we are left with major environmental and public healthproblems resulting from decades of widespread and uncontrolled asbestos use. To
minimize future hazardous exposures, there is a need for standardized means tomeasure asbestos contamination in the environment and a certification scheme forasbestos removal companies. Addressing these concerns, the Brussels Declaration,
adopted at the European Asbestos Conference: Policy, Health and Human Rights, 22
acknowledged that:“Asbestos products in European homes, commercial buildings andinfrastructures and asbestos waste in our environment continue to cause
unprecedented levels of diseases and mortality.”
The Brussels Declaration called on the European Parliament and the European
Commission to take action to prevent future hazardous exposures; it recommended:•“rigorous enforcement of EU and national health and safety asbestos
legislation…
• introduction of guidelines for measuring asbestos soil contamination;• research on safe methods for treating asbestos waste…
• the 2003 (EU) Directive should be strengthened by eliminating the conceptof “sporadic and of low intensity exposure”. No exposure to asbestos issafe…
• finances from the European Social Fund should be made available to support
the clean-up of asbestos contaminated areas.” 23
A well-funded scientific approach will be needed to ensure that future generations ofEuropeans do not suffer the same fate as those whose health and lives have alreadybeen sacrificed to asbestos.

1

Virta RL. Worldwide Asbestos Supply and Consumption Trends from 1900 to 2000. USGS Survey.
At one time 10 of the 13 Canadian chrysotile mines which were operational were in Quebec.
According to Historian Joch McCulloch: “They included the Jeffrey Mine, which was the largest openpit asbestos mine in the world.”
3
McCulloch J. Mining and Mendacity, or How to Keep a Toxic Product in the Marketplace. Int J
Occup Environ Health 2005;11:398-403.
4
AHERA: Asbestos Hazardous Emergency Response Act.
5
This is the clearance limit for public housing for indoor air in the US.
6
The ink was hardly dry on John Van Raalte’s report when a spokesperson for the Pro-Chrysotile
Movement (Le Mouvement ProAmiante Chrysotile) condemned the testing methods used as“inappropriate” and warned the population of Thetford Mines and Asbestos to be “on their guard”
against troublemakers sent to their area by the American branch of Ban Asbestos. [Echantillonnage
clandestin de l’air by Danie Blais, December 19, 2003, Courrier Frontenac.] Mr. Van Raalte, aCertified Industrial Hygienist with 18 years of experience and a Master’s Degree in Environmental
2

7

Health/Industrial Hygiene from the University of Cincinnati, followed strict U.S. guidelines forsampling and analysis.
7
Report of Results: MVA Project 3416.
8
Data from 2003, shows that Kazakhstan produced 353,000 t and exported 60,000 t, making it the 4th
biggest chrysotile exporter. Its domestic consumption of the asbestos produced nationally (13.8%) is
the third highest in the world after Russia (20%) and China (17.9%).
9Within a few short years of its formation in 1920, Turner & Newall Ltd. became the UK’s largest asbestos
group and was referred to as the “Asbestos Giant.”
10
T&N publication: The First Fifty Years 1920-1970.
11
The dire occupational and environmental conditions at this site have been reported in a number of books
including: Asbestos Killer Dust by A. Dalton, Magic Mineral to Killer Dust by G. Tweedale and Asbestos:
Medical and Legal Aspects by B. Castleman.
12

Website: http://www.spodden-valley.co.uk
Residents not told about asbestos. August 12, 2005. Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/
14
Were Councillors and the BBC misled over asbestos test results. August 12, 2005. Website:
http://www.spodden-valley.co.uk
15
The Kanzaki plant had produced asbestos-cement water pipes containing crocidolite and chrysotile
from 1954 to 1975 and asbestos construction materials (mainly roofing and outer wall materials fordomestic houses) containing chrysotile from 1960 to 2001.
16
Death Rate from Rare Cancer 9.5 times Higher Near Plant. August 25, 2005. The Japan Timeswebsite: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/
17
Asbestos as an Environmental Hazard – the Example of the Szczucin Community was the title of thepaper presented by Dr. Neonila Szeszenia-Dabrowska on May 11, 2004 at the conference: Asbestos
Issues in Poland, held in Lodz, Poland.
18
Terazono A. Asbestos Emission Caused by Buildings Demolition in the Great Hanshin-Awaji
Earthquake. Presented at the Global Asbestos Congress 2004, Tokyo, Japan.
19
Eric Chatfield and John Kominsky used electron microscope technology and modern fiber counting
protocols; the EPA’s measurements were taken using twenty year old methods of collection andmeasurement.
20
Kazan-Allen L. Asbestos Fallout from September 11. January 2002. Website:
http://www.ibas.btinternet.co.uk
21
Pinheiro A, Antao VCS, et al. Malignant Mesothelioma Surveillance. Int J Occup Environ Health2004;10:251-255.
22
The European Asbestos Conference was held in Brussels on September 22 & 23, 2005; see website:
http://www.ibas.btinternet.co.uk
23
Kazan-Allen L. European Asbestos Conference: Policy, Health and Human Rights. September 2005.
Website: http://www.ibas.btinternet.co.uk
138