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Fact 13 In 2015, the Collegium Ramazzini (CR) reaffirmed its long-standing position that “well-documented availability of safer, cost-effective alternative materials” exist for asbestos, including chrysotile. The CR supports both the 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) position to cease using all types of asbestos and the 2014 WHO publication Chrysotile Asbestos that “all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are causally associated with an increased risk of cancer of the lung, larynx and ovary, mesothelioma and asbestosis” and “are in line with the recent evaluation by the International Agency for 4 Research on Cancer (IARC).” (Collegium Ramazzini, 2015; WHO, 2006; WHO, 2014) 
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Fact 12 In 2014, a multi-disciplinary gathering of scientists meeting in Helsinki, Finland agreed that all types of asbestos cause cancer in man and “In order to prevent the epidemic of asbestos-related diseases from being repeated among workers and communities in the developing world, ceasing the use of new asbestos is essential” (Helsinki Declaration, 2014).  Fact 11 On June 4, 2012 the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology (JPC-SE) after “[A] rigorous review of the epidemiologic evidence confirms that all types of asbestos fibre are causally implicated in the development of various diseases and premature death.” The JPC-SE “Calls for a global ban on the mining, use, and export of all forms of asbestos” and further the JPCSE describes how “Similar to the tobacco industry, the asbestos industry has funded and manipulated research to manufacture findings favourable to its own interests. It has set up front organisations claiming to be expert scientific institutes, such as the Canadian Chrysotile Institute, the Russian Chrysotile Institute, and the Brazilian Chrysotile Institute. But, they are, in reality, lobby groups promoting the continued use of asbestos.” (JPC-SE, 2014)  Fact 10 In October 2013, the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH) stated “There is sufficient evidence in humans for the carcinogenicity of all forms of asbestos (chrysotile, crocidolite, amosite, tremolite, actinolite and anthophylite)” (ICOH, 2013).  Fact 9 The International Labor Organization resolved that: “(a) the elimination of the future use of asbestos and the identification and proper management of asbestos currently in place are the most effective means to protect workers from asbestos exposure and to prevent future asbestos related diseases and deaths; and (b) the Asbestos Convention, 1986 (No. 162), should not be used to provide a justification for, or endorsement of, the continued use of asbestos” (IL0, 2006). 3  Fact 8 Safer substitutes do exist for replacing chrysotile, thus eliminating the need for use of any type of asbestos in commerce (IPCS, 1998; Harrison et al., 1999; CSTEE, 2002; WBG, 2009; WHO, 2011; Collegium Ramazzini, 2015).  |
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December 2023
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