Asbestos: economic assessment of bans and declining production and consumption (2017)

2017, vi + 38 pages
ISBN 978 92 890 5248 1
This publication is only available online.

The global asbestos industry is shrinking as countries have increasingly banned and moved away from reliance on asbestos. This publication assesses the economic impact of declines in asbestos production and consumption and banning of asbestos use.

According to country-level data, no negative economic impact is observed. Since the importance of asbestos to the economies of current producer/consumer countries is similar to that of other countries that have already banned its use, this analysis suggests that countries currently consuming/producing asbestos would not experience an observable effect on gross domestic product from a ban on or a decline in asbestos consumption/production. In addition, the continued use of asbestos carries substantial costs related to health, remediation and litigation.