Braun Lundy, Kisting Sophia
Department of Africana Studies and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI 02910, USA.
Am J Public Health. 2006 Aug;96(8):1386-96. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2005.064998. Epub 2006 Jun 29.
South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitative social conditions, former workers and residents of mining regions suffered--and continue to suffer--from a serious yet still largely undocumented burden of asbestos-related disease. This epidemic has been invisible both internationally and inside South Africa. We examined the work environment, labor policies, and occupational-health framework of the asbestos industry in South Africa during the 20th century. In a changing local context where the majority of workers were increasingly disenfranchised, unorganized, excluded from skilled work, and predominantly rural, mining operations of the asbestos industry not only exposed workers to high levels of asbestos but also contaminated the environment extensively.
一个多世纪以来，南非一直是全球第三大石棉出口国。由于特别恶劣的社会剥削状况，矿区的前工人和居民遭受了——并且仍在遭受——与石棉相关疾病的严重负担，而这一负担在很大程度上仍未得到记录。无论是在国际上还是在南非国内，这一流行病都未受到关注。我们研究了20世纪南非石棉行业的工作环境、劳工政策和职业健康框架。在当地环境不断变化的情况下，大多数工人越来越被剥夺权利、缺乏组织、被排除在技术工作之外，而且主要是农村人口，石棉行业的采矿作业不仅使工人接触到高浓度的石棉，还对环境造成了广泛污染。
