Isochimica Factory Case Study Anna DASCENZIO (original) (raw)
Related papers
Mortality study in an asbestos cement factory in Naples, Italy
Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanità, 2011
The objective of this paper is to investigate mortality among 1247 male asbestos-cement workers employed in an asbestos-cement plant located in Naples. The cohort included 1247 men hired between 1950 and 1986. The follow-up began on January 1st 1965. The vital status and causes of death were ascertained up to December 31 2005. Cause-specific mortality rates of the Campania Region population were used as reference. Relative risks were estimated using Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMRs), and the confidence intervals were calculated at a 95% level (95% CI). A significant increase in mortality was observed for respiratory disease (81 deaths; SMR = 187; 95% CI = 149- 233), particularly for pneumoconiosis (42 deaths; SMR = 13 313; 95% CI = 9595-17 996) of which 41 deaths for asbestosis (SMR = 43 385; 95% CI = 31 134-58 857), for pleural cancer (24 deaths; SMR = 2617; 95% CI = 1677-3893), for lung cancer (84 deaths; SMR=153; 95% CI = 122-189) and for peritoneal cancer (9 deaths; SMR = 198...
International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018
Introduction: Asbestos has been used for thousands of years but only at a large industrial scale for about 100-150 years. The first identified disease was asbestosis, a type of incurable pneumoconiosis caused by asbestos dust and fibres. The latest estimate of global number of asbestosis deaths from the Global Burden of Disease estimate 2016 is 3495. Asbestos-caused cancer was identified in the late 1930's but despite today's overwhelming evidence of the strong carcinogenicity of all asbestos types, including chrysotile, it is still widely used globally. Various estimates have been made over time including those of World Health Organization and International Labour Organization: 107,000-112,000 deaths. Present estimates are much higher. Objective: This article summarizes the special edition of this Journal related to asbestos and key aspects of the past and present of the asbestos problem globally. The objective is to collect and provide the latest evidence of the magnitude of asbestos-related diseases and to provide the present best data for revitalizing the International Labor Organization/World Health Organization Joint Program on Asbestos-related Diseases. Methods: Documentation on asbestos-related diseases, their recognition, reporting, compensation and prevention efforts were examined, in particular from the regulatory and prevention point of view. Estimated global numbers of incidence and mortality of asbestos-related diseases were examined. Results: Asbestos causes an estimated 255,000 deaths (243,223-260,029) annually according to latest knowledge, of which work-related exposures are responsible for 233,000 deaths (222,322-242,802). In the European Union, United States of America and in other high income economies (World Health Organization regional classification) the direct costs for sickness, early retirement and death, including production losses, have been estimated to be very high; in the Western European countries and European Union, and equivalent of 0.70% of the Gross Domestic Product or 114 × 10 9 United States Dollars. Intangible costs could be much higher. When applying the Value of Statistical Life of 4 million EUR per cancer death used by the European Commission, we arrived at 410 × 10 9 United States Dollars loss related to occupational cancer and 340 × 10 9 related to asbestos exposure at work, while the human suffering and loss of life is impossible to quantify. The numbers and costs are increasing practically in every country and region in the world. Asbestos has been banned in 55 countries but is used widely today; some 2,030,000 tons consumed annually according to the latest available consumption data. Every 20 tons of asbestos produced and consumed kills a person somewhere in the world. Buying 1 kg of asbestos powder, e.g., in Asia, costs 0.38 United States Dollars, and 20 tons would cost in such retail market 7600 United States Dollars. Conclusions: Present efforts to eliminate this man-made problem, in fact an epidemiological disaster, and preventing exposures leading to it are insufficient in most countries in the world. Applying programs and policies, such as those for the elimination of all kind of asbestos use-that is banning of new asbestos use and tight control and management of existing structures containing asbestos-need revision
Managing asbestos in Italy: twenty years after the ban
New solutions : a journal of environmental and occupational health policy : NS, 2012
Establishing an asbestos ban is not sufficient to achieve effective primary prevention. Twenty years after the Italian asbestos ban, the residual presence of asbestos-containing materials, estimated to be 80 percent of the quantity existing in 1992, may still be the cause of negative effects to the health of workers and the general population. The so called "asbestos way-out" at this rate of cleaning up, roughly 1 percent per year, is too slow, and new policy to re-discuss the entire process is needed. Encouragement of the owners with tax relief when the substitution of the asbestos roofs is performed with photovoltaic panels, as well as reducing the cost of removal planning local landfills may be the keys to accelerate the cleanup process.
Restorative responses to harms caused by asbestos companies
2023
This article highlights the relevance, the potential, and the limitations of environmental restorative justice in addressing the harms experienced by asbestos victims. Starting from case studies related to three different subsidiaries of Eternit in Belgium, Italy, and Brazil, the article identifies some of the main challenges to understand the harms caused by asbestos from the perspective of the victims, the problem with their identification, and to identify whom the perpetrators are. The last section is dedicated to pondering how the demands for justice by the people affected to asbestos-related diseases meets strong difficulties, but they also offer some perspective of restorative responses.
The global asbestos struggle today La lotta globale contro l'amianto oggi
2007
Summary Global asbestos use dropped by half in the 1990s but has remained over 2 million metric tons per year in the new century. Most of the people in the world still live in countries where asbestos is widely used, with few safeguards, despite bans in over 40 countries around the world and the virtual elimination of asbestos in the leading industrial nations. For countries experiencing rapid industrialization, the use of asbestos in the coming generation of construction materials would have dire public health consequences. The case of India, where asbestos use is still rapidly expanding even in the face of growing public health opposition, is illustrative. The recent commitment of the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, and the World Bank Group to take action on asbestos offers new hope that the impasse in lowering global asbestos use will be overcome. Progress so far has depended on the dedicated efforts of many individuals and institutions of civil ...
Annali dell'Istituto superiore di sanita, 2020
OBJECTIVE Italy has been a large user of asbestos and asbestos containing materials until the 1992 ban. We present a pooled cohort study on long-term mortality in exposed workers. METHODS Pool of 43 Italian asbestos cohorts (asbestos cement, rolling stock, shipbuilding, glasswork, harbors, insulation and other industries). SMRs were computed by industrial sector for the 1970-2010 period, for the major causes, using reference rates by age, sex, region and calendar period. RESULTS The study included 51 801 subjects (5741 women): 55.9% alive, 42.6% died (cause known for 95%) and 1.5% lost to follow-up. Asbestos exposure was estimated at the plant and period levels. Asbestos related mortality was significantly increased. All industrial sectors showed increased mortality from pleural malignancies, and most also from peritoneal and lung cancer and asbestosis, with exposure related trend. Increased mortality was also observed for ovarian cancer and for bladder cancer. DISCUSSION The study ...
Mortality Experience in an Historical Cohort of Chrysotile Asbestos Textile Workers
2000
Introduction and aims The issue of whether exposure to chrysotile asbestos causes lung cancer, mesothelioma and non- malignant diseases was investigated in an historical cohort in Grugliasco, Italy, where the largest Italian asbestos textile factory had been in operation until 1986. In this urban area there are important mortality differences by social class. Methods The study cohort comprised 1,653 asbestos
Mortality among long-term employees of an Ontario asbestos-cement factory
British journal of industrial medicine, 1983
Mortality was studied among a group of 328 employees of an Ontario asbestos-cement factory who had been hired before 1960 and who had been employed for a minimum of nine years. The group of 87 men who had worked in the rock wool/fibre glass operations, or who had been otherwise minimally exposed to asbestos, had mortality rates similar to those of the general Ontario population, while the group of asbestos-exposed employees had all-cause mortality rates double those of the Ontario population, mortality rates due to malignancies five times higher than expected, and deaths attributed to lung cancer eight times more frequent than expected. According to the best evidence available, 10 of 58 deaths among the production workers were due to malignant mesothelioma and 20 to lung cancer. The men dying of mesothelioma were younger than the men dying of lung cancer with mean ages at death of 51 and 64 years respectively. An exposure model was constructed on the basis of the available air sampl...