Asbestos Exposure and Children

A major concern of many parents is their child’s health. In fact, this is a general concern of our entire population as children are very precious so their health and safety needs to be protected.

This is why a hot topic these days is the presence of asbestos, a known deadly carcinogen, in the schools our children attend, especially as the question of whether or not children are more at risk from asbestos exposure than adults is coming more into the public consciousness.

Are children more vulnerable to asbestos-related diseases after asbestos exposure?

Yes, unfortunately, children are more at risk from asbestos exposure than adults. Why?

Asbestos-related diseases have a latency period during which the disease develops. Children have a longer time to live, which gives asbestos-related diseases enough time to develop within a child’s lifetime.

How does this work?

Assuming a thirty-year latency period, a person exposed at fifty years of age will be eighty when an asbestos-related disease develops but a child exposed at ten will only be forty when they develop an asbestos-related disease. The likelihood of the child being alive a forty is greater than the likelihood of the adult being alive at eighty years of age. You can see then that a child is ultimately more likely to develop an asbestos-related disease than the adult simply because the disease has more time to develop.

While it hasn’t been confirmed through scientific study, it is also suspected that children are more susceptible to the harmful effects of asbestos exposure due to their physical immaturity. Many doctors warn that children are not just ‘little adults’ and because their bodies aren’t fully developed, they have different reactions and interactions with hazards like asbestos than adults.

Children are also different than adults in that they have exploratory behaviours and an undeveloped understanding on danger that can lead to exposure to hazards like asbestos. And, as discussed, they have longer life expectancies than adults. Moreover, children spend time in different environments than adults. Young children spend a lot more time in the home than adults and then, as they age, they spend a lot of time in school, another different environment than adults with exception of course to those who work in schools and daycares.

Asbestos in Schools

Asbestos is present in many schools in industrialized countries like Canada and the United States because it was widely used in a large variety of building materials throughout the twentieth century due to its useful properties such as inflammability and durability.

Sadly, we now know that the use of asbestos comes at the cost of human health: those who mine, process, and work with the mineral can develop asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.

People are also at risk of the health effects of asbestos exposure if they spend a lot of time in buildings in which asbestos fibres are present in the air. As mentioned, children spend much of their time in school so if there were asbestos fibres in the air they breathe school can become a very dangerous situation as an environment of long-term exposure to the hazard. 

If asbestos was part of a school’s building materials and then was disturbed due to renovation or wear over time, children’s health could be at risk as they could develop asbestos-related diseases down the road.

The Precautionary Principle

Many pushing governments around the world to remove asbestos from schools argue that we must act with the precautionary principle in mind – that is, even though we don’t know for sure that children are even more at risk from asbestos exposure than adults due to their physical immaturity, we should act as if they were and remove asbestos from schools as soon as possible because if we do not take this precaution and evidence confirms that children are more at risk, then many children will have been unnecessarily put in harms way.

Resources:

Asbestos Exposure In Schools. (2011). Increased vulnerability of children to asbestos: the precautionary principle. Retrieved July 2013 from http://www.asbestosexposureschools.co.uk/pdfnewslinks/CHILDREN%20increased%20vulnerability%20to%20asbestos%202%20Nov%2009.pdf.

Joint Union Asbestos Committee. (2013). Children are more at risk from exposure to asbestos. Retrieved July 2013 from http://www.juac.org.uk/blog/children-are-more-at-risk-from-exposure-to-asbestos.

World Health Organization. (2008). Children are not little adults. Retrieved July 2013 from http://www.who.int/ceh/capacity/Children_are_not_little_adults.pdf. 

Restoration Contractors Organization of Canada Working to Create National Asbestos Handling Protocol

Canada’s full-service restoration contracting industry is in the business of restoring lives.  Each year, tens of thousands of property owners across the country are adversely affected by losses relating to wind, fire and water.  As this article is being written, a massive mobilization is underway in Calgary, to assist with billions of dollars of flood damage caused by heavy rains and swollen waterways.

Like the past major incidents that our members have responded to, the flooding in Calgary has brought a number of issues to light, many of which relate to the health & safety of both workers and building occupants.  A primary issue is that of building materials and the potential for asbestos within such things as drywall, ceiling tiles and floor tiles.

Restoration Contractors Organization of Canada (RCOC) member companies deal with safety issues on a daily basis.  Mould, asbestos, and biohazards from flood waters are just some of the environmental issues that our members are trained to manage.  The reality is that these issues exist, and well-trained contractors typically have the necessary skills to deal with them professionally and safely.  Doing so mitigates any related dangers, and avoids the need for any public alarm.

As a general rule, any structure that was built prior to 1990 may have been built with building materials that contain asbestos in varying degrees.  Every province in Canada has regulations with regard to the identification, testing and handling of asbestos containing materials (ACM’s).  The provinces do not take this issue lightly.  In March of 2011, WorkSafeBC had shut down more than 30 building projects due to improper removal of asbestos and asbestos containing materials. The issue is of such concern in BC, that the government has launched an asbestos-specific website, noting that the number of fatality claims due to occupational disease, and more specifically asbestos related disease, is on the rise.

RCOC members have the necessary training to operate according to the regulations.  During the current situation in Alberta, we are reminding members of the public that not all contractors are restoration contractors.  Awareness and training with regard to unique job hazards is something that most standard contractors are not equipped to deal with. 

It is for this reason that RCOC has embarked on the creation of a national asbestos handling protocol.  While our members are already equipped to deal with issues relating to asbestos, our many stakeholders and the public will be comforted by the fact that a comprehensive protocol for our industry exists.  Having a national standard raises the bar for anyone providing restoration services to the public.  What’s more, having a standard in place creates the need for continual education, especially in light of changing regulations.  A national standard will ensure that RCOC members stay current with all provincial regulations.

A national asbestos protocol is not only good optics for the full-service restoration industry, it makes good business sense.  Individuals and corporations want to do business with firms that have the necessary qualifications and skills to complete projects while complying with regulations.  Both workers and building occupants will benefit in the end.

Restoration Contractors Organization of Canada (RCOC) is a national organization that represents the image and interests of full-service restoration contractors to industry stakeholders and members of the public.  RCOC represents nearly 600 restoration contracting locations across Canada.  These businesses employ nearly 13,000 professionals, and contribute close to $2 billion to the Canadian economy.

The Uses of Asbestos

Asbestos has many uses due to its inherent properties. Asbestos is a very strong and durable material that is also very flexible. Asbestos has the ability to insulate because it does not conduct heat. Moreover, asbestos is relatively chemically unreactive. Due to these properties, asbestos has commercial value.

In ancient times, asbestos was used mostly as a novelty. For instance, Charlemagne had a tablecloth, made seemingly of asbestos, with which he would entertain dinner guests when ‘cleaning’ it by throwing it into the fireplace, where it would not be burnt. Asbestos’ fine fibrous crystals were also used as decoration or adornment of homes and even jewelry. Ancient Egyptians, Persians, and also Romans and Greeks used asbestos as funeral shroud to protect the bodies of their dead throughout time.

During the rise of industrialization, asbestos became more and more common. This was because there was a need for thermal insulation with many of the new technologies such as the steam engine and machines used for manufacturing. Asbestos use peaked in the 1950s, at which point it was being used in about 3 000 products.

The health effects of asbestos have been known for over a century but asbestos was such a versatile product that they were ignored for many years. As its health consequences began to become more noticeable, asbestos use waned with the push to ban the substance. However, today, asbestos is still used in the developing world and even in some developed countries like the United States where it is still not banned.

Asbestos’ contemporary uses include:

•    Insulation around windows, gaskets, furnaces, pipes etc.

Asbestos fibres act as insulation to heat, electricity, and even sound. For this reason, asbestos was used to insulate homes, to insulate industrial products like furnaces and engines. It is also used as sealants around gaskets and windows in buildings and homes.

Asbestos had many military applications as a result of its insulating capabilities so many veterans were exposed and have developed asbestos-related diseases.

•    Reinforcement for building products like tiles, cement, etc.

            Asbestos is a very strong mineral that is used to reinforce products. Because of its durability, it is used in many building products such as ceiling and floor tiles, fireproof drywall, house siding, and cement products like cement sheet roofing.

•    Fire resistant products like drywall, fabrics, etc.

Asbestos was used in fire blankets and outfits for firefighters to protect them from heat and flame. Asbestos was also used in housing materials as a way to ‘fireproof’ private homes and public buildings like schools, municipal buildings, and even hospitals.

Despite its health effects, asbestos was even marketed as a ‘miracle mineral’ that would save lives due to its inflammability. Instead, though, it takes lives due to its carcinogenicity.

•    Making products like vehicle brakes, transmissions, and clutches more durable

Asbestos is also used in car manufacturing to make products like vehicle brakes, transmissions, and clutches last longer.

Asbestos in your home

Any home made before 2000 should be checked for asbestos before renovation occurs because distributing asbestos without taking necessary precautions can have dangerous health consequences for you or the contractor working in your home.

Resources:

Asbestos Resource Center. (2013). History of Asbestos. Retrieved June 2013 from http://www.asbestosresource.com/history/.

The Mesothelioma Center. (2013). Mining & Manufacturing History Part II. Retrieved June 2013 from http://www.asbestos.com/asbestos/history/part-2.php.

Oracle Solutions. (2013). History of Asbestos. Retrieved June 2013 from http://www.oracleasbestos.com/history-of-asbestos/.

US Environmental Protection Agency. (2013). Where can I find asbestos? Retrieved June 2013 from http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/learn-about-asbestos#find.

United States Department of the Interior. (ND). Asbestos: Geology, Mineralogy, Mining, and Uses. Retrieved June 2013 from http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/of02-149/of02-149.pdf.

Asbestos in the Developing World

Asbestos products are marketed to developing countries as cheap and durable products. Asbestos-containing products thought of as a poor person’s building material. It is cheaper than other materials so it makes home building and even ownership more attainable to a person or a family who would not have been able to afford another kind of shelter. Furthermore, materials made with asbestos are more durable.

However, the health risks are often downplayed and are rarely promoted. People who do not know about the health risks associated with asbestos exposure and who live in poverty so they cannot afford a safer building material do not have the opportunity to protect their health. Moreover, chrysotile asbestos is said to be the ‘safer’ choice than its alternatives, which has generally unstudied consequences, and other varieties of asbestos, like amphibole, despite that the World Health Organization says that all kinds of asbestos are carcinogenic.

Why sell to the developing world?

Asbestos producing countries need to market asbestos to countries where it has not yet been banned or its consumption limited. Asbestos is currently banned in over fifty countries including the European Union, many of which are located in the developed world or are medium-income countries. Most other developed countries and increasingly more developing countries strictly control asbestos.

Developing countries are then the most accessible market to the asbestos industry. India, for instance, is one of the largest consumers of asbestos in the world.

Health consequences due to lack of laws and enforcement as well as a lack of capacity to create and enforce new laws

Sadly, many developing countries do not have laws that protect workers effectively.  Even if they do have laws, they might not be enforced, which puts people, especially those who work with asbestos, at risk of being exposed. According to the WHO, asbestos-related cancers are the leading cause of occupational cancer globally with an estimated 125 million people being exposed to asbestos each year in their workplace.

The people who work in factories that process imported raw asbestos are also in danger of asbestos exposure. If workers are impoverished, they will not speak out against working conditions for fear of losing their jobs.

And if they become ill with an asbestos-related disease such as asbestosis, they will keep working in the toxic environment because they require the income to support their families and pay for their medicine. Continuing to work with asbestos will only make them sicker, though. Eventually, they will not be able to work anymore so they will lose that income. This will mean they will not be able to afford medicine and without the income from their job they will be even more marginalized.

Mining operations have grown in developing and middle-income countries 

Before 2011, when its last asbestos mines were closed, Canada was a major exporter of asbestos globally. The main importers of Canada’s asbestos were developing countries like Brazil and India. These countries are still importing asbestos today from producers like Kazakhstan, Russia, Zimbabwe, and China whose asbestos mines still operate today.

While the closing of the Canadian asbestos mines were a win for the anti-asbestos movement here, other asbestos-producing countries benefitted financially from the move by picking up where the Canadian asbestos industry left off.

Not Worth The Risk

The asbestos industry has a great financial interest in continuing the mining and processing of the mineral. Advocacy groups against asbestos argue that this is why asbestos has still not yet been banned in many countries. Even in Canada and the United States asbestos is not banned outright, just controlled.

Even though asbestos is fireproof and has high tensile strength, it is not worth using (even with precautions) because it is like poison and has deadly consequences. When these consequences are ignored or downplayed, though, some only see asbestos’ profit-making ability.

Resources:

CBC The National. (2010). Canada’s Ugly Secret. Retrieved July 2013 from http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/06/28/national-asbestos.html.

CBC News. (2011). Asbestos Mining Stop For The First Time In 150 Years. Retireved July 2013 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/11/24/asbestos-shutdown.html.

Lemen, Richard A. (ND). Smoke and Mirrors: Chrysotile Asbestos Is Good For You – Illusion And Confusion But Not Fact. Retrieved July 2013 from http://worldasbestosreport.org/articles/iatb/page16-20.pdf.

McCulloch J. and Tweedale G. (2009). Defending the Indefensible, The Global Asbestos Industry and its Fight for Survival. Oxford University Press.

World Health Organization. (2006). Elimination of Asbestos-Related Diseases. Retrieved July from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2006/WHO_SDE_OEH_06.03_eng.pdf.

Taking A Stand: The Asbestos Cancer Victims' Rights Campaign

Below is a guest post from Susan Vento, a spokesperson for the Asbestos Cancer Victims' Rights Campaign (ACVRC). The ACVRC is currently working to raise awareness and take action against the Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act. This act will hinder the ability of patients and survivors of asbestos-related diseases to get justice for the harm done to them by companies who used asbestos and allowed employees to be exposed to asbestos despite their knowledge of its terrible health consequences. 

FACT will make the legal process even longer in the U.S., which means even fewer patients and survivors will be compensated for their losses due to their asbestos-related disease. Supporting these companies is not a precedent that should be set in the fight to ban asbestos. Instead, like Susan Vento and ACVRC, let's stand up for patient and survivor rights. 

My husband, Bruce, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives until October 10^th, 2000 when he died of pleural mesothelioma––a rare disease caused by asbestos exposure. He was exposed during his work as a laborer, a job he took so he could put himself through college. While many only know of asbestos cancers like mesothelioma from late-night television commercials, there are a growing number of people experiencing the real fate this deadly disease carries.

Mesothelioma is known as being a fast mover after diagnosis, taking most victims’ lives just four to eighteen months later. Tens of millions of American workers have been exposed to asbestos; more than 27 million people were occupationally exposed between 1940 and 1979. Millions of those exposed have fallen ill, or will fall ill in the future; many have died and many more will die as a result of their exposure. Despite these terrifying facts, asbestos is STILL not completely banned in the US today.

Asbestos victims rely on compensation from personal injury trusts through asbestos claims to cover their insurmountable medical expenses, but sadly many victims only receive a small percentage of what companies owe them. This places a huge burden on the victims and their families.

Recently, asbestos companies are using their political influence to push a new bill in Congress, led by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It is called the “Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act”. In short, these companies want to use this bill as a means to delay medical payments, which results in most victims dying before they seek justice. The parties in support of this bill are hiding behind this notion of “transparency”, but the reality is this bill places burdensome reporting requirements on victims applying to the bankruptcy trusts. This requirement is not two-sided, however. The same companies who are to blame won’t have comparable requirements, creating a one-sided and unfair bill designed to debilitate those who have already been injured. Personally identifiable information such as the last four digits of social security numbers, private work history, and personal information of children exposed at an early age would become public, making victims vulnerable to identity theft and discrimination.

This is just the latest attempt by big companies and individuals like the Koch brothers to avoid responsibility for their heinous wrongdoings. Just last week the House Judiciary Committee began fast-tracking this bill. Even though the Committee promised to hold a public hearing to provide an opportunity for a patient and two widows to testify, they instead sent the bill to a full committee markup and vote without bothering to hear the victims’ side of the story.

The time is now for us to take a stand. I am a spokesperson for the Asbestos Cancer Victims’ Rights Campaign. The ACVRC is a national campaign dedicated to protecting the rights and privacy of asbestos victims and their families.  By joining our fight, you can help us defeat this unfair legislation and the potentially dangerous precedent it sets.

I work with the ACVRC to honor Bruce’s legacy as well as do what I can to help other patients and families protect their legal and constitutional rights. While awareness and information surrounding mesothelioma have improved considerably, we need to continue raising our voices. Starting with signing our petition, I encourage you to join our effort. Despite where you reside, be it Canada or the United States, signing your name in support of the ACVRC will still make an impact. With your help, we can put a stop to this legislation. Together, we can work towards building a better tomorrow and truly make a lasting difference.

To stay updated and for more information, be sure to find the Asbestos Cancer Victims' Rights campaign on their website and on Facebook and Twitter.