Reduction of health risks from asbestos
European ministers of health and environment committed themselves in the Parma and Ostrava Declarations to act with priority on the establishment by 2015 of national programmes to eliminate asbestos-related diseases. Many Member States in the WHO European Region have already established such programmes. WHO/Europe and the International Labour Organization are supporting countries’ efforts through the provision of information, training and policy and technical guidance.
Exposure to asbestos can occur at the workplace or in the environment through inhalation of dust containing asbestos fibres. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), asbestos accounted for about 50% of occupational lung cancers; in particular, 85–90% of male mesothelioma cases are due to occupational exposure to asbestos. Because of the long latency period between exposure and disease development – especially in the case of mesothelioma – the number of asbestos-related diseases is still rising, even in countries that banned the use of asbestos more than 20 years ago.
All forms of asbestos are banned from use in more than half of Member States in the WHO European Region because exposure of workers and other users is extremely difficult to control, and because asbestos abatement is very costly and hard to carry out in a completely safe way. While safer substitutes are being introduced for all uses, safe removal and disposal of existing asbestos remains a challenge.
National and international policy development for the elimination of asbestos-related diseases is based on the following milestones:
- quantification of the burden of asbestos-related diseases in Europe;
- preparation of national asbestos profiles;
- preparation of regional asbestos profiles;
- preparation of national programmes and action plans;
- preparation of the WHO report to the Sixth Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health (2017).
