2. This presentation was given at the Asbestos Disease Awareness
Organization conference on March 31, 2012 in Manhattan Beach, California. It is
provided here for use by those who are willing to accept the challenge to put the
world-wide asbestos-cement industry out of business. No restrictions are placed on
its use other than to refrain from alteration of the content in a way that would
misrepresent the intent of the presentation. Attribution to Andrew F. Oberta, MPH,
CIH, The Environmental Consultancy, www.asbestosguru-oberta.com is requested.
The text in the Notes panel below each slide in Normal view are my
explanation of the content.
I would appreciate any feedback on your use of this presentation and any
results achieved therefrom. My contact information is at the end of the program.
Andy Oberta
3. Where does asbestos fiber come from?
World Mine Production and Reserves: 2011
Production, tons Reserves
Russia 1,000,000 Large
China 400,000 Large
Brazil 270,000 Moderate
Kazakhstan 210,000 Large
Canada 100,000 Large
Other countries 20,000 Moderate
World total (rounded) 2,000,000 200,000,000
Source: U.S. G.S. Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2012
More than 90% of the world production of chrysotile is used in
the manufacture of chrysotile-cement, in the form of pipes,
sheets and shingles -- Chrysotile Institute
4. Where is asbestos fiber used?
• Recent US consumption is minimal
2011 consumption: 1100 tons (imported)
Roofing - 60% ; Chloralkali - 35%; Other - 5%
• Asbestos cement used for roofing, siding and pipes
5. Where is asbestos fiber used?
• 2010 consumption in metric tons
• China - 613,760
• India - 426,363
• Russia - 263,037
• Brazil - 139,153
• Indonesia - 111,848
• Developing countries are target markets
• Even industrialized countries may lack a
health and environmental protection
infrastructure for asbestos hazards
8. Hazards of manufacturing the products
“Representatives of the world's major chrysotile exporting mines signed an
agreement whereby they committed to supply chrysotile fibre only to those
companies that demonstrate compliance with national health and safety
regulations.” -- The Chrysotile Institute
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation
10. Myths and Facts of “Controlled Use”
Myth: Asbestos-cement cannot be crumbled to powder by hand
pressure- it is non-friable
Fact: Asbestos-cement can become friable when damaged
11. Myths and Facts of “Controlled Use”
Myth: Asbestos fibers are locked in the cement matrix and cannot
be released from the surface
J. Dyczek
L. Dwyer
J. Millette
Fact: Fibers are released through normal weathering processes
12. Myths and Facts of “Controlled Use”
Myth: Asbestos-cement products present no exposure hazard to
building occupants
Fact: Damage and vibration can expose building occupants to
asbestos hazards
13. Myths and Facts of “Controlled Use”
Myth: Asbestos-cement pipes cause no health or environmental
hazard
J. Millette
Fact: Chrysotile and crocidolite fibers are released when pipes
are dug up, broken and crushed
14. Myths and Facts of “Controlled Use”
Myth: Paint and encapsulants offer permanent protection
against asbestos fiber release
PLM
Fiberquant
SEM
Fact: Paint and encapsulants deteriorate and take asbestos fibers
with them when they peel off
15. Confronting the Problem of Installed Products
• Outreach and education to create awareness of hazards
• Example: roof removal from shelters in Indonesia, April 2011
•Dave Hodgkin, Benchmark Consulting, Indonesia
•Two-day community workshop on issues and methods
•Removal demonstration at two shelters by facilitators
•Removals at 50 shelters by community participants
• Enforce proper work practices through regulations, contracts
and other mechanisms
• ASTM E2394 Standard Practice for Maintenance, Renovation and Repair
of Installed Asbestos Cement Products (www.astm.org)
• United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia publications
16. Confronting the Problem of New Products
• Discourage consumption by
• Creating awareness of hazards through outreach and
education
• Implementing regulatory and economic incentives and
penalties
• Supporting the development and economic use of
products with alternative fibers
• Reduce availability by
– Bans on importing and using asbestos fiber
– Disrupting supplies of cement
17. Disrupting supplies of cement
+ =
• Every ton of asbestos fiber requires several tons of
cement to make asbestos-cement products
• Suppliers of cement contribute to the manufacture
of a hazardous product
• Suppliers of cement may be participating in a
criminal enterprise
18. Disrupting supplies of cement
• Identify the suppliers of cement to the asbestos-
cement industry in each country
• Domestic producers
• Importers
• Use moral persuasion and public exposure to
discourage them from supplying the asbestos-
cement market
• Identify target audiences and media resources
• Labor unions, investors, financial institutions
• Traditional and social media
19. Disrupting supplies of cement
• Use economic penalties and incentives to reduce
economic advantages of asbestos-cement
• Higher tariffs on imported cement, higher taxes on
domestic production, for use with asbestos fiber
• Subsidies on cement used with alternative fibers
• Use litigation and liability to put pressure on cement
companies
• Name cement companies as defendants in asbestos
litigation
• Advise insurance carriers of their potential risk
• Inform cement companies of threat of civil and criminal
penalties
20. Technical measures not enough
• Credible technical information essential to counter
arguments that asbestos-cement products are not
hazardous
– Industrial hygiene studies of fiber release and exposure
– Medical studies of health effects from exposure
– Practical measures for controlling exposure
• Elimination of asbestos-cement products requires
institutional actions – economic, financial and
political -- by advocates and activists
21. • Biographical summary of Andrew F. Oberta, MPH, CIH
• BS Aeronautical Engineering and Master of Public Health degrees
• Certified in Comprehensive Practice by American Board of Industrial Hygiene
• Over thirty years experience in asbestos consulting
• Chairman of Task Group on Asbestos Management for ASTM International
• Author of ASTM Manual on Asbestos Control
• Presentations at seven international asbestos conferences from 2000 to 2012
• Mr. Oberta will organize a technical session for any conference which
addresses advocacy measures to confront and eventually eliminate the
asbestos-cement industry. For his contributions he will expect
reimbursement of travel and other direct expenses.
Andrew F. Oberta, MPH, CIH
The Environmental Consultancy
900 Route 620 South, Suite C101, M/S 101
Austin, TX 78734 United States
(512) 266-1368
andyobe@aol.com -- www.asbestosguru-oberta.com
Editor's Notes
The objective of “confronting” the industry is to put them out of business and eliminate exposure to asbestos that will continue to occur if asbestos-cement products are not removed from the stream of commerce.
At current production rates there is a 100-year supply of asbestos fiber in the ground. With nearly all of the current production going into asbestos-cement products, what we call the “asbestos industry” is for all practical purposes the asbestos-cement industry. Note that they no longer make asbestos-cement, they make chrysotile-cement. We will continue to call it asbestos-cement but “chrysotile asbestos-cement” might be a better term to keep chrysotile and asbestos linked in the public consciousness.
In the US asbestos chloralkali filters have taken over second place from friction products in market share. “Transite” has become a generic term for asbestos-cement in the US, even though it is a Johns-Manville trade name for a specific line of products.
With the emphasis on developing countries as target markets for asbestos-cement products, let’s not forget that industrialized countries with thriving economies such as India don’t necessarily have the infrastructure to cope with EHS hazards, including those from asbestos-cement products.
The chain of death starts at the mine and mill, where workers, their families and the community are exposed to asbestos fibers.
This plant in northern Israel, which I visited in 1998, made asbestos-cement pipe as well as flat and corrugated sheet from 1952 to 1997. Plant workers have extremely high mesothelioma rates and cases have occured among residents living near the plant. The waste from the plant contaminated the area surrounding the plant and the entire Western Galilee. Although the plant stopped using asbestos the year before my visit, dust samples I took off the orange dust collection equipment had chrysotile and amosite fibers. The manufacturing equipment was decontaminated, disassembled and, I was told, shipped to India, which is our next stop.
The purveyors of asbestos fiber pledge to sell it only to those who comply with “national health and safety regulations.” This assumes there are such regulations, that they are adequate and are enforced. Seeing these pictures, I have my doubts.
Exposure continues through the manufacturing process and when the material leaves the plant. After that, there is exposure when the products are installed, maintained, removed and disposed of. But the chain of death may not end even then if the discarded material is scavenged and re-used.
There are five myths of “controlled use” I would like to dispel. The first is that asbestos-cement is not friable: it cannot be crushed to powder by hand pressure. This ceases to be true if the material becomes damaged, as on the left. The video on the right shows me easily breaking pieces off the edge of a piece of corrugated asbestos-cement siding (in an exhaust hood) and crumbling the pieces to powder. Click on the picture to start the video.
The next myth is that the fibers are firmly locked in the cement matrix and cannot be released from the surface. The picture on the left is from New Zealand, the middle one from a building in New Orleans, and the one on the right was taken by a researcher in Poland. All three show the effects of weathering that cause the fibers to protrude from the surface and become releasable into the air.
The myth that there is no indoor exposure hazard is refuted by these pictures taken inside an industrial plant. On the left is an elevator – a man-lift – with damaged asbestos-cement panels and a vibration environment. The video on the right shows the effect of a strong wind moving the heavy asbestos-cement panels. Click on the picture to start the video.
During the manufacture of asbestos-cement pipe the ends are beveled by grinding, which produces dust that the workers breathe. This dust creates a waste stream that contaminates the plant and its surrounding environment. When the pipe is eventually dug up it is frequently broken into piees like that on the right, where chrysotile and crocidolite fibers can be seen protruding from the surface.
The final myth concerns protecting the surface of asbestos-cement roofing and siding by “encapsulating” it, which is another term for applying a coat of paint. The picture on the left shows siding on a house that has been painted blue and from which I removed some paint chips. Photomicrographs of the back side of the paint chips show fibers that have been pulled off the siding. Removal of the paint or encapsulant creates a contaminated waste stream that has to be properly collected and disposed of.
A recent project in Indonesia shows how installed asbestos-cement products can be properly removed by community residents under the guidance of a qualified professional. The workshop provided a forum for discussion of asbestos issues and precautions to be followed during removal of the roofing materials. After a demonstration by the facilitators, the residents removed the remainder of the roof panels using the methods and precautions they learned in the workshop, including disposal procedures. The ASTM standard was written with the needs of developing countries in mind.
The installation of new asbestos-cement products can be discouraged by a combination of methods shown here. In addition to reducing consumption, or demand, the supply chain for the materials to make thr products is vulnerable to disruption. This has taken the form of bans on asbestos fibers in a growing number of countries; unfortunately, such bans are not in place in the countries where they are needed the most. A possible alternative to disrupting the supply of asbestos fiber is interdicting the supply of cement.
It takes two things to make asbestos-cement: asbestos and cement. For every ton of asbestos fiber used, several tons of cement are required. The suppliers of cement are therefore contributing to the manufacture of a hazardous product. Furthermore, the Eternit conviction in Italy has established the manufacture of asbestos-cement products as a criminal activity, and cement companies that supply this market may be participating in a criminal enterprise.
These are some ideas on identifying the companies that supply cement to the asbestos-cement industry and how pressure might be brought to bear to persuade them to abandon that market. These techniques might also work with other industry vulnerabilities besides their supply of cement such as their transportation network or financial resources.
It might be unrealistic to expect the cement companies to voluntarily abandon such a lucrative market. Other “carrots and sticks” might be needed, and these are some of the possible measures that could be brought to bear.
The asbestos-cement industry cannot be defeated by technical measures alone. Consultants, industrial hygienists, laboratories, physicians and other technical entities have an important role to play by providing credible information to support actions taken against the industry. The “junk science” that will be offered in defense of the industry must be countered by “sound science” from reputable sources. However, the primary responsibility rests with the advocates and activists who have the skills that will ultimately prove decisive in the economic, political and financial sectors.
I will make a personal commitment to support the campaign against the world’s asbestos-cement industry by marshaling the technical resources of my peers and colleagues.
