Oxford University publishes "
Defending the Indefensible: The Global Asbestos Industry and its Fight for Survival." Reviewing it in
the Lancet,
Barry Castleman writes that by 1960 scientists had proven that asbestos-caused asbestosis and lung cancer were fatal. And by 1960,
mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the pleura and peritoneum, was recognized as a signal injury--a cancer caused only by asbestos. But almost eighty percent of all asbestos used between 1900 and 2000 was used
after 1960.
Castleman explains that "most of the world's people live in countries where asbestos products are still used." Castleman. The asbestos industry. Lancet 2009; 373: 290. This is possible only because the asbestos industry continues to attack the overwhelming weight of the scientific evidence that asbestos exposure can be fatal.
In the early 1960s, Dr. Irving Selikoff, an epidemiologist, began documenting the shocking number of asbestos injuries and deaths among insulators. Dr. Selikoff has long been recognized as "a towering figure in occupational health[.]" But even after his death, the asbestos industry repeatedly attempted to "smear his scientific reputation."
In response to the spreading knowledge about asbestos hazards, the asbestos industry "hired public relations specialists who had learned their skills working for the tobacco industry." With the help of these tobacco industry public relations specialists, the asbestos industry manufactured the "chrysotile defense." "Chrysotile asbestos has accounted for about 95% of all the asbestos ever used and is the only commercial variety still used." The asbestos industry now claims that mesothelioma is not caused by chrysotile asbestos--despite the overwhelming scientific consensus that all forms of asbestos (including chrysotile) cause mesothelioma.
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