Bengt Järvholm, Dept of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
Scand J Work Environ Health. 2024 Mar 1;50(2):53-60. doi: 10.5271/sjweh.4146. Epub 2024 Feb 7.
This paper discusses the failure and success of society to decrease the adverse health effects of asbestos exposure on workers' health in relation to scientific knowledge.
The findings are based on a narrative literature review.
Early warnings of the adverse health effects of workplace exposure to asbestos were published already in the 1930s. Serious health effects, such as malignancies and fibrosis due to occupational asbestos exposure, were highlighted in major medical journals and textbooks in late 1960s. New technologies could detect also asbestos fibers in the lung of non-occupational exposed persons in the 1970s. The first bans for using asbestos came in the early 1970s, and more general bans by authorities came in the 1980s and continue until today.
The rather late recognition of adverse effects of asbestos exposure in the general population and measures to decrease the exposure through more general bans came rather late. However, the very strong measures such as general bans in many countries have been a success. A Swedish study showed that the general ban and other measures have decreased the risk of malignancies due to occupational exposure. The effect of the bans on adverse effects in the general population has yet to be studied. Analysis of fibers in the lungs of persons born after the bans could be an efficient method.
本文讨论了社会在减少石棉暴露对工人健康的不利健康影响方面的失败和成功，以及与科学知识的关系。
研究结果基于叙事文献综述。
早在 20 世纪 30 年代，就已经有关于工作场所接触石棉对健康的不利影响的早期警告。20 世纪 60 年代末，主要医学期刊和教科书中强调了因职业性石棉暴露而导致的严重健康影响，如恶性肿瘤和纤维化。20 世纪 70 年代，新技术也可以检测非职业性暴露者肺部的石棉纤维。20 世纪 70 年代初首次禁止使用石棉，80 年代和今天，当局更普遍地禁止使用石棉。
公众对石棉暴露的不良影响的认识相对较晚，通过更普遍的禁令来减少暴露的措施也相对较晚。然而，许多国家采取的非常强有力的措施，如普遍禁令，已经取得了成功。一项瑞典研究表明，普遍禁令和其他措施已经降低了因职业接触而导致的恶性肿瘤风险。禁令对一般人群不良影响的效果尚未得到研究。分析禁令后出生的人肺部的纤维可能是一种有效的方法。
