ASBESTOS AND THE AMERICAS
Laurie Kazan-Allen
Presented at annual meeting:
The Asbestos Diseases Awareness Organization
Chicago, Illinois, U.S., April 10, 2010.
Countries in the Americas are important stakeholders in the asbestos industry. From1900 to 2008, asbestos consumption in the Americas was 43+ million tonnes.1 As a resultof the widespread use of thousands of tainted products, human beings, infrastructures andenvironments were contaminated. Epidemics of asbestos disease have been documented
in the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico; elsewhere the situation is unclear due tolack of data. The mesothelioma death last year of Hollywood columnist Army Archerd
attracted much media attention; the same cannot be said for thousands of other asbestos
deaths throughout North, South and Central America. Current high-profile examples of
the residual problems stemming from asbestos pollution include remediation workongoing at iconic buildings such as the U.S. Capitol, the Canadian Parliament and theUnited Nations headquarters.
Conclusion: Asbestos exposure which is too dangerous for American politicans anddiplomats, is not, so our governments maintain, problematic for everyone else.
Much of the asbestos used in the Americas was “home grown.” From 1900 to 2008,
more than 70 million tonnes of asbestos was sourced from mines in Canada, Brazil andthe U.S. We grew it, used it and sold it. We were so good at producing asbestos, that
our output exceeded demand; as a result, millions of tonnes were exported. Unfortunately,
our collective responsibility for spreading the asbestos epidemic is not consigned to thehistory books. Two of the world’s five biggest asbestos exporters are in the Americas; in2008, Brazil and Canada accounted for 21% of total global output of chrysotile asbestos.
Although the U.S. stopped mining asbestos in 2002, in 2008, the U.S. exported $32.2
million of asbestos and asbestos products, 61% of which went to four countries: Mexico,Canada, China and South Korea. 2 That year, U.S. asbestos exports to countries in theAmericas accounted for 44% of all sales. In 2008, more than 10% of Canadian asbestos
was sold to other countries in the Americas. 3 Brazil also sells substantial amounts ofasbestos to Mexico and Colombia. 4
Conclusion: Asbestos stakeholders in the Americas contribute to the contaminationof their own and neighboring countries.
1All of this data was either supplied by email from the United States Geological Survey (U.S.G.S.) or canbe sourced on its website.
2From 2007 to 2008, U.S. asbestos sales to Mexico increased by 5% and to Canada decreased by 10%.
3Three American countries were amongst Canada’s ten best customers; they were: Brazil (5.4%= $5.6 m
spent on Canadian asbestos imports), Mexico (3.5% = $3.6m) and Colombia (2%=$2.1 m).
Mittelstaedt M. Controversy brews over asbestos deaths in Mexico. February 12, 2010.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/controversy-brews-over-asbestos-deaths-inmexico/article1467211/
4
In 2007, 66% (11,050 tonnes) of Mexico’s total asbestos consumption of 16,676 tonnes came from Brazil.

How in the 21st century can a substance as hazardous as asbestos be freely transported
across national borders. The answer is as simple as it is obvious: powerful vested
interests have invested millions of dollars to prevent governments acting to protect
populations. Of the dozens of countries in the Americas, only three – Argentina, Chileand Uruguay – have banned asbestos. 5 The fact that asbestos industry funded bodies
operate in strategically important countries and that these countries have not banned
asbestos is not coincidental:
CountryAsbestos Trade Association

BrazilBrazilian Chrysotile Institute (Instituto Brasileiro do Crisotila/IBC) which replaced The Brazilian Asbestos Institute (ABRA)
Chrysotile Institute (formerly the Asbestos Institute)
Columbian Fiber Association (Asociacion Colombiana de Fibras)
Mexican Institute of Fibro-Industry (Instituto Mexicano de FibroIndustrias)
Asbestos Information Association of North America

CanadaColombia
MexicoU.S.

Conclusion: Vested interests, motivated solely by greed, continue to exert financial
and political pressure to prevent asbestos from being banned
Of the scores of multinational bodies, agencies and groups working throughout theAmericas, 6 evidence of asbestos policies could not be found for any of them; theexception being the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). A search for asbestos
on the PAHO website referred users to the WHO 2006 recommendation that asbestos use
should be phased out. Enquiries on the asbestos policies of other multilateral agencies inthe Americas remained unanswered. Considering this lack of response and data
documenting the extensive use of asbestos in Chile, 7 – in the seven year run up to thenational ban (2001) ~40,000 tonnes were used – it is not unreasonable to be concerned
about hazardous asbestos exposures in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami inFebruary 2010. 8 Attempts to obtain information on current levels of asbestos pollution in
affected areas of the country have not been fruitful. In light of Chile’s asbestos ban andincreasing awareness of the asbestos hazard amongst responder agencies, it is reasonable
to anticipate that asbestos will not be used in the reconstruction efforts. Confirmation,5

It was difficult to find a definitive list of countries in the Americas; the estimates range from 25 to 47(see: http://new.paho.org/ ).
6
These include: the: Andean Community of Nations, Association of Caribbean States, Bank of theSouth, CARICOM Single Market and Economy, Central American Common Market, Central American
Parliament, Free Trade Area of the Americas, Latin American Free Trade Agreement, Latin American
Parliament or (Parlatino), Mercosur or Mercosul,North American Free Trade Agreement, North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, Organization of American States, Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States,
Organization of Ibero-American States, Regional Security System, Union of South American Nations.
7Data sourced from the U.S.G.S. on asbestos use in Chile is in Appendix A; from 1995-2001, when Chilebanned asbestos, 39,558 tonnes were used; from the data available it appears that asbestos use in Chile
peaked in 1995 at 11,666 tonnes.
8See: Appendix A: Asbestos Consumption in Chile.

however, is essential not only for local people but also for those tasked with the clean-up
and rebuilding work.
Conclusion: Global organizations, regional bodies, and national authorities in theAmericas have neither acknowledged nor acted on the asbestos hazard; as a resultof their malign neglect, millions of Americans have been exposed to the world’sworst industrial killer – these exposures continue.
Nothing is more important than the sanctity of human life. As representatives from theU.S., Canada, and Brazil gather together for the 6th annual conference of the Asbestos
Diseases Awareness Organization, we affirm our determination to end the misery causedby asbestos. We endorse the statements made in The Call to the Americas – Ban Asbestos
Now 9 and reiterate its urgent request for all Pan American regulatory bodies andgovernments to:“…adopt policies calling for asbestos to be banned. Working with international
bodies, they should set a timetable, no more than 2 years, for the implementation ofasbestos prohibitions, delineate a strategy for achieving this objective, adopt a justtransition for affected workers, and ensure that support and medical care for theasbestos-injured is provided. We urge official bodies to work closely with thosemost affected by the asbestos epidemic – the asbestos victims – in all
negotiations and consultations.
To end the needless slaughter, an immediate commitment to ban asbestos,accompanied by a detailed action plan for achieving this objective, is essential; thecitizens of the Americas have the right to live a life free of asbestos pain anddeath.”

9The Spanish, Portuguese and French translations of the Call for the Americas can be viewed on theADAO website: http://www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org/

Appendix A
Asbestos Use in ChileYear196019701975198019851990
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000________________________________
2001

Amount (tonnes)
nil
8800
2000
nil
8387
7749
11666
9349
9198
4937
2296
1811______________________________
301