The Synergist® (American Industrial Hygiene Association)
April 2005, Volume 16, No. 4

Letter to the Editor

The Asbestos Debacle: Where Were We?

Each year in the United States, approximately 10,000 workers die from asbestos-related diseases. Elsewhere in the world, the number of deaths is much higher. This epidemic is, we hope, peaking. Yet it will continue to plague us for the next 20-40 years.

More than 70 corporations have gone bankrupt over asbestos litigation, and billions of dollars have been paid out in victims' compensation (although often victims received about five cents of every dollar they were due), attorney's fees and medical bills. The estimated costs of future disease claims are expected to be about $140 billion (Congress will soon vote on an asbestos bill to create a $140 billion fund to compensate victims). Given the enormity of this problem and its substantially occupational origin, we owe it to ourselves to ask:

• Where were we as a profession?
• What role did we play, both positive and negative?
• Could we have done more to prevent it?
• And what lessons can we learn for the future?

There is a lot of evidence, uncovered in the course of litigation, of the early knowledge of the dangers of asbestos and the corporate malfeasance in covering it up. Undoubtedly, occupational safety and health professionals played a major role in both uncovering the dangers and in concealing them. ACGIH TLVs^® were first set in the 1940s and then revised progressively through the 1960s to the 1990s from 12 f/cc down to 0.1 f/cc in 1997. OSHA set a standard for asbestos exposure back in 1971 of 5 f/cc. NIOSH recommended a REL of 0.1 f/cc (100,000 f/m³) in 1976. Yet OSHA did not lower its PEL until 1986 to 0.2 f/cc (except for a brief reduction to 0.5 f/cc in 1983 that was overturned by the courts) and later to 0.1 f/cc in 1994 as a result of a union lawsuit and petition.

In 1987, the Environmental Protection Agency attempted to ban the use of asbestos in the United States but was stopped by lawsuits from industry and the Canadian government. Consequently, some uses of asbestos are still permitted in the United States. Many in the profession argued for "safe use" despite the imperative for substitution in our professional hierarchy of controls, knowing full well that the lack of enforcement here (and worldwide) makes requirements for "safe use" a farce.

Asbestos use remains a problem in the Third World, despite an international movement to ban asbestos use worldwide. In fact, activists in Brazil were recently harassed and threatened for forcefully advocating for a ban.

In the 1980s, a well-coordinated campaign by the asbestos industry under the dubious moniker of the "Safe Buildings Alliance" convinced the EPA and others to leave asbestos in place by frightening people about the dangers of unsafe removal (while not pushing for stronger enforcement) and touting snapshot air sampling as proving it was harmless. Proper maintenance is all that is required. Maintaining it in place for perpetuity was a simple task. Consequently, we still have incidents such as one in June 2004 where a Brooklyn principal had his students rip up old asbestos floor tile in the library to save renovation costs. Recent years have highlighted additional asbestos-related problems like those of the residents of Libby, Mont., and the nationwide distribution of contaminated vermiculite.

Asbestos use and exposure in the United States and worldwide could be the worst occupational health disaster in modern times. The fact that we, as the leading OSH profession, did not do more to stop it should force us to reflect on why and what our response should be to the next potential disaster. Will we be hesitant to act or forcefully advocate for tougher standards and enforcement when confronted with the possibility of the next occupational health debacle? Thousands of lives could hang in the balance.

Scott Schneider, a CIH, is director of occupational safety and health for Laborers' Health and Safety, Washington, D.C. He is an AIHA Fellow. Schneider can be reached at schneider@lhsfna.org or (202) 628-5465.

*** POSTED APRIL 22, 2005 ***