Asbestos is a killer. The prestigious Collegium Ramazzini, an international academic society that examines critical issues in occupational and environmental medicine, re-issued its Call for a Ban on Asbestos a decade after its first call in 1999. The Collegium’s report, Asbestos is Still with Us: Repeat Call for a Universal Ban states that in the last decade as many as over one million workers worldwide have died from asbestos related cancers. The profound tragedy of these deaths caused by asbestos each year is that virtually all of them are preventable. “All countries of the world,” the Collegium argues, “have an obligation to their citizens to join in the international endeavor to ban all forms of asbestos.”

All forms of asbestos are proven human carcinogens; asbestos exposure has been definitively linked to asbestosis, malignant mesothelioma, lung, laryngeal, and ovarian cancers, and may cause gastrointestinal and other cancers—all of which are fatal. Globally, asbestos takes the lives of as many as 140,000 workers annually. This number does not include deaths from environmental exposure which remains a serious problem, especially in the developing world. Most of the world’s people still live in countries where asbestos use continues with little or no provision for worker protection or compensation from work-related exposure.

The scientific community overwhelmingly agrees that there is no safe minimum exposure level for asbestos. The EPA, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization, and the National Toxicology Program are just a few of the organizations that have recognized the definitive carcinogenicity of asbestos. Still, in the United States, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established a permissible exposure limit that will lead to five deaths from lung cancer and two deaths from asbestosis in every 1,000 workers exposed for a working lifetime. Is even one of these deaths justifiable if it could have been prevented? Why, given the overwhelming evidence and scientific agreement regarding the cost of asbestos use, do the mining and manufacture of asbestos persist?

Safer substitutes for asbestos do exist, but the asbestos industry continues to oppose attempts at a ban. Around the world, the industry’s lobbying power has prevented decisive government action, and well-funded industry science has attempted to hide the clear link between asbestos exposure and fatal disease.

To date, 52 countries have banned the use of asbestos, due largely to the work of an international movement. But even by conservative estimates asbestos may take as many as 10 million lives before it is finally banned worldwide. Each of these deaths could be prevented.

The Kazan Law Firm joins in the call: All countries of the world have an obligation to their citizens to ban all forms of asbestos.

We thank Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) along with Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) for introducing a resolution that declares the first week of April as “National Asbestos Awareness Week” that seeks to “raise public awareness about the prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of asbestos exposure.”

Text of the Resolution follows:

Whereas dangerous asbestos fibers are invisible and cannot be smelled or tasted;

Whereas the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers can cause significant damage;

Whereas asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other health problems;

Whereas asbestos-related diseases can take 10 to 50 years to present themselves;

Whereas the expected survival time for those diagnosed with mesothelioma is between 6 and 24 months;

Whereas generally, little is known about late-stage treatment of asbestos-related diseases, and there is no cure for such diseases;

Whereas early detection of asbestos-related diseases may give some patients increased treatment options and might improve their prognoses;

Whereas the United States has reduced its consumption of asbestos substantially, yet continues to consume almost 2,000 metric tons of the fibrous mineral for use in certain products throughout the Nation;

Whereas asbestos-related diseases have killed thousands of people in the United States;

Whereas exposure to asbestos continues, but safety and prevention of asbestos exposure already has significantly reduced the incidence of asbestos-related diseases and can further reduce the incidence of such diseases;

Whereas asbestos has been a cause of occupational cancer;

Whereas thousands of workers in the United States face significant asbestos exposure;

Whereas thousands of people in the United States die from asbestos-related diseases every year;

Whereas a significant percentage of all asbestos-related disease victims were exposed to asbestos on naval ships and in shipyards;

Whereas asbestos was used in the construction of a significant number of office buildings and public facilities built before 1975;

Whereas people in the small community of Libby, Montana have asbestos-related diseases at a significantly higher rate than the national average and suffer from mesothelioma at a significantly higher rate than the national average; and

Whereas the establishment of a “National Asbestos Awareness Week” will raise public awareness about the prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of asbestos exposure:

Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate

(1) designates the first week of April 2009 as “National Asbestos Awareness Week”;

(2) urges the Surgeon General to warn and educate people about the public health issue of asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health; and

(3) respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Office of the Surgeon General.

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) announced its 6th Annual Awareness Conference to be held April 9-11, 2010, in Chicago. Organized in collaboration with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, the conference is a key part of the global movement to ban the use of asbestos and improve detection and treatment options for asbestos-related diseases.

The conference will feature experts addressing preventing asbestos use, resources for asbestos-related disease victims and their families, and advances in the diagnosis and treatment of asbestos-related disease. Speakers include Brazilian government official and asbestos issue activist Fernanda Giannasi, as well as Canadian MP Pat Martin. Canada and Brazil are major asbestos exporters, and bringing together these two speakers will facilitate useful dialogue. The conference is an opportunity to build advocacy networks and raise awareness around issues of asbestos and asbestos-related disease.

The ADAO will also honor leaders in the struggle to raise awareness, change policy, and hold asbestos producers accountable to the victims of asbestos-related disease. Additionally, it will honor the memory of those victims during the Unity and Hope Brunch, sponsored and hosted in part by Kazan Law. New this year, the conference will include a private gathering to support patients and their families and caregivers.

Kazan Law is proud to support and sponsor the Global Mission for this year’s conference:

To learn more about the conference and to register for attendance, please visit the ADAO conference webpage.