McCulloch Jock
RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
Int J Occup Environ Health. 2003 Jul-Sep;9(3):230-5. doi: 10.1179/oeh.2003.9.3.230.
Asbestos has been mined in Southern Africa for more than a century. Chrysotile from the mines of Swaziland and Zimbabwe was marketed around the globe, while South African mines produced almost all of the world's amphibole fiber. The major mines were owned and operated by British firms that in the United Kingdom from 1931 were subject to occupational health and safety legislation. The failure of those companies to apply knowledge of the dangers of asbestos to their Southern African operations saw men, women, and children labor in conditions that would have been unthinkable in Britain. The result has been a legacy of disease and environmental pollution.
在非洲南部，石棉开采已有一个多世纪的历史。来自斯威士兰和津巴布韦矿山的温石棉曾销往全球，而南非的矿山几乎生产了世界上所有的闪石纤维。主要矿山由英国公司拥有和运营，这些公司自1931年起在英国须遵守职业健康与安全法规。这些公司未能将石棉危害的相关知识应用于其在南部非洲的业务，导致男女老少在英国难以想象的条件下劳作。其结果是留下了疾病和环境污染的后遗症。
