According to a new report by thinktank ResPublica, the regulation of asbestos in Britain is so inadequate that a child could be exposed to up to 10 times as much of the deadly material as they would in many other European countries.
The report is heavily critical of the current regulatory regime, directly comparing the levels allowed in the UK to those in Germany:
“A child inhales between five and 10 cubic metres of air per day, meaning the permitted levels of airborne asbestos......
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Scientists at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool have claimed that beer filtered with asbestos may be the cause behind a large increase in the diagnosis of gullet cancer, with this exposure potentially being the reason for a four-fold increase in cases.
Until the 1980s, some breweries used this toxic mineral to filter out impurities in beer. It is also thought that some pub owners would even add a handful of the deadly material to leftovers at the end of their shift for ‘cleansing’, so it could be served the following......
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Last September, as many university students were about to start a new academic year, a Freedom of Information request filed by Stephensons Solicitors LLP to 106 universities in England, revealed the just how many of these institutions contained asbestos.
From the 91 universities that responded to the FOI request, 74% contain asbestos in the fabric of their buildings and 86% contain asbestos on their grounds.
The results of this enquiry led to Stephensons injury team calling on all universities to sufficiently inform students and staff about the hazardous material if it is......
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‘Asbestos Lady’ and ‘Asbestos Man’ — villains from the Marvel Comics in the ’40s and ’60s, nemeses of the ‘Human Torch’ - a superhero who controls fire, were both significant characters in 20th Century asbestos awareness. At the time the substance was disclosed as hazardous to human health, yet was still globally used in manufacturing and construction industries because of its affordability and durability.
As the public became more aware of its harmful effect, not just its properties, comics started to represent asbestos as a miracle material – but with negative or toxic......
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The town called Asbestos
Asbestos town is located at southern Quebec province. Its first asbestos mine was established in 1879 and helped the local community grow dramatically. Today, its economy entirely depends on asbestos mining, extraction and production, as does the life of its citizens. Despite numerous attempts to outlaw the substance, the government maintained its support for the asbestos industry. In the case of Asbestos town, a $58 million loan was granted by the government to keep the last mine operational. However, following a new presidential election, the loan was cancelled, preventing further......Continue Reading
Standing on the rim of the world’s largest open pit asbestos mine reveals a panoramic scene. Opened in the late 1800s, it is about half the size of the island of Manhattan and the source of untold tons of asbestos. The pit descends about 1,000 feet down slopes created by terraced access roads. Big mining trucks haul out fibrous, gray, raw asbestos. A billboard put up by Uralasbest in Asbest proclaims “Asbestos is our Future”.
In the Russian region of Sverdlovsk Oblast, on the eastern slopes of the Ural Mountains, there is a......
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Nearly two decades on from traumatic incident of 9/11, lower Manhattan residents and employees are experiencing a shocking increase in respiratory illnesses and cancer.
Many of these deaths have been connected to the release of asbestos and other such materials that had been used in the construction of the Twin Towers.
One of the victims, John Mormando, was working in nearby proximity to the Twin Towers and was diagnosed with breast cancer. This form of cancer is incredibly rare in men, even more so as there was no family history of the disease. Prior......
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In March 2019, following years of discussions, Canada has introduced a ban on use, sale, import and export of asbestos.
Calls for the elimination of asbestos products within the domestic market have been supported by Canadian federal health and environment departments, citing mounting health-care costs for the treatments of asbestos related illnesses such as mesothelioma.
Estimating that exposure to asbestos fibres caused approximately 1,900 lung cancer cases and 430 mesothelioma cases in the country in 2011.
For more than 30 years, asbestos fibres have been recognised as hazardous to human health and well-being (World Health......
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Major lack of standards and regulations put students and teachers in danger of asbestos exposure.
According to The Joint Union Asbestos Committee (JUAC) almost 90% of schools contain asbestos, amplifying death rates for those working in these environments. The evidence shows that on a yearly basis 17 school employees die due to mesothelioma cancer.
Furthermore, the JUAC reveals that 1,863 academies in the UK contain asbestos. The dangerous substance is being continually uncovered, often found under the carpet, in ceilings and pipes – of these academies only 54 had been reported as of early......
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In April this year, The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) released new findings from research conducted by President of the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH), Jukka Takala.
According to Dr. Takala’s research, asbestos-related diseases caused 39,275 deaths in the US annually—more than double the previous estimates of 15,000 per year. Specifically, asbestos leads to 34,270 lung cancer deaths, 3,161 mesothelioma deaths, 787 ovarian cancer deaths, 443 larynx cancer deaths, and 613 chronic asbestosis deaths.
The Global Asbestos Disaster findings, unveiled at the 14th Annual Asbestos Disease Awareness Conference in Washington, DC, reports a......
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