20
Asbestosis occurs as a result of high levels of asbestos exposure, which leads to
scarring of lung tissue. With increased scarring blood flow becomes restricted, requiring the
heart to pump harder. Progressive deterioration in lung capacity results in
breathing
difficulties, even after mild physical exertion. Clubbing of the fingers and cyanosis (blueness
of the skin) also can occur. Eventually the victim becomes incapacitated, needing oxygen to
breathe, and is also prone to infections such as chronic bronchitis or pneumonia. Death
usually eventuates from respiratory or heart failure prompted by a secondary infection.
12
By
1947 English research had reported the coexistence of lung cancer in some workers whose
recorded death had been from asbestosis.
13
Cancer due to asbestos exposure can develop on the lung or the pleura, the thin
membrane which protects the lung. Lung cancer and mesothelioma have
a long latency
period, spanning one to four decades and longer. This latency period was one of the reasons
it took so long to distinguish lung cancer from mesothelioma.
14
An insidious malignant
tumour, mesothelioma can develop from even trivial exposure. More commonly occurring on
the pleura, in rarer cases mesothelioma can develop on the protective lining of
the abdominal
cavity, the peritoneum.
15
In pleural mesothelioma the lung capacity decreases as the
malignant tumour grows. Fluid accumulates in the pleural space causing excruciating pain.
The victim suffocates. In peritoneal mesothelioma the tumour covers the peritoneum. The
area swells from the accumulation of fluid, causing nausea, loss of appetite and acute pain
as the swelling exerts pressure on the surrounding organs. Once this malignant tumour has
enveloped the lung or the lining of the abdominal cavity the victim usually dies within a
year.
16
Asbestos use and knowledge of its impact on workers’ health date back to the 1
st
century A.D. The Romans noticed the deteriorating health of their slaves weaving asbestos.
The Roman historian, Pliny, referred to the Romans’ institution of the use of masks, made of
12
McCulloch (1986), Op Cit. p. 43.
13
Ibid. p. 44.
14
Ibid. p. 49.
15
Ibid. pp. 48-51
16
Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia Inc. (2003),
Asbestos: what you should know (3rd edn.;
Western Australia), pp. 26–27. For a discussion of the structure of the fibre and the body’s defences to
deal with irritant particles see McCulloch & Tweedale, Op Cit. p. 3.
21
the
stomach lining of animals, to avoid inhalation of dusts. The consequences of asbestos
exposure only resurfaced in the last two decades of the 19
th
century, with the
commencement of asbestos mining in South Africa and Canada.
17
Multinational corporations
— Cape Asbestos and Turner & Newall in the U.K. and Johns-Manville in the U.S. — would
dominate mining and manufacture for nearly a century.
18
In England, by 1902, the Lady
Inspector of Factories commented that “some of the most injurious processes known to us
now are
extremely ancient,” among them “the textile process of preparing and weaving
asbestos.” She noted that Pliny referred to those “injurious processes” as the cause of the
“diseases of slaves”.
19
In the twentieth century, workers’ ill-health would continue to be a
problem in the asbestos mines and factories of Europe, Africa, Asia, South and North
America and Wittenoom.
20
It is still the case in Asia, Africa and South America.
21
Asbestos
use was justified in
terms of its benefits which, the industry argued, outweighed the
dangers.
22
17
Castleman, Op Cit. Chapter 1. Castleman is most probably referring to Pliny the Elder in this
chapter, as he, and not Pliny the Younger, published an encyclopaedia entitled
Naturalis Historia.
Pliny the Younger was a lawyer and magistrate.
18
Hills, Op Cit. pp. 9 -10. See McCulloch & Tweedale, Op Cit. for a detailed account of the global
asbestos industry. Castleman, Op Cit. Chapter 1 for the early reports on asbestos exposure. See
Tweedale, Op Cit. for a history of Turner & Newall.
19
Anderson, A.M. (1902), 'Historical Sketch of the Development of Legislation for Injurious and
Dangerous Industries in England', in T. Oliver (ed.),
Dangerous Trades (New York: Dutton), p. 25.
20
Castleman, Op Cit. See also McCulloch & Tweedale, Op Cit. Ruff, Op Cit. Carnevale, F. (2007),
'Amianto: una tragedia di lunga durata. Argomenti utili per una ricostruzione storica dei fatti più
rilevanti',
Epidemiol Prev 31 (4), pp. 53-74. Trans: Asbestos: a tragedy of long duration: Useful topics
for a historical reconstruction of the most relevant facts. Kazan-Allen, Op Cit. Le Blanc, Op Cit.
Tweedale, Op Cit. McCulloch (1986), Op Cit. Brodeur, P. (1974),
Expendable Americans: The
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