The argument that there had to be trade-off between the immediate commercial benefits of asbestos and the long-term health interests of people cannot apply to Japan, it being the world’s second-biggest economy. Asbestos-related disease in Japan is compounded by the fact that over 50% of male Japanese are smokers. More than 100,000 Japanese are expected to die of asbestos-related diseases by 2040.
The problem with asbestos
Undeniably, asbestos is an extremely useful and cheap mineral with over 3,000 applications in the construction, insulation, and other industries. However, in the 1960s, the Western world discovered a strange type of cancer affecting workers exposed to asbestos. This cancer is called ‘mesothelioma’ and usually affects the protective tissues over the lungs. In a fewer cases, mesothelioma affects the protective layers of the heart, and the gastro-intestinal tract.
In Japan, mesothelioma is usually detected between 20 and 40 years after the causative exposure to asbestos. So, the cancer is usually in an advanced stage when detected and survival period vary between less-than-a-year to two years post-diagnosis. Mesothelioma today is a global health crisis and is assuming the proportions of an epidemic that will extinguish a million lives worldwide by 2020. Asbestos also causes asbestosis (where inhaled asbestos dust settles in the lungs), which can lead to lung cancer.
History of asbestos use in Japan
Japan started using asbestos late 19th century. Almost all asbestos ever used in Japan has been imported except during World War II. Wartime Japan developed 50 domestic asbestos mines, all of which are now closed. Asbestos imports surged in the 1960s and 1970s to peak at 352,110 tons in 1974.
When the carcinogenic properties of asbestos were reasonably well-established, Japan responded by stopping import of one type of asbestos (‘crociodolite’ or ‘blue asbestos’) in 1988. In 1993, it stopped imports of another type of asbestos (‘amosite’ or ‘brown asbestos’).
There is however a third type of asbestos (‘chrysotile’ or ‘white asbestos’) that Japan continued to import. Japan was not the only country that imported chrysotile: others too did so, probably under pressure from vested interests like Canada (a leading exporter of chrysotile even today). The vested interests tried to reason that chrysotile is not harmful if used with safety measures. However, it didn’t take long to nail this lie, as countries (e.g., Sweden) that almost always used chrysotile also reported rise in mesothelioma cases.
While the other rich countries of the world started to severely restrict or ban chrysotile, Japan took as long as 2002 to finally ban this material under pressure from the United States whose nationals were being exposed to asbestos in the US naval base and shipyards at Yokosuka. Even then, the ban was more in terms of principle since asbestos can still be used in Japan when safer substitutes are unavailable. Even today, apart from asbestos contained in existing buildings, the material is found in the following products:
- Gaskets for machinery
- Insulating plates for switchboards
- Chemical seals
- Industrial rope
A complete ban on asbestos is unlikely to materialize before 2008. And people exposed to asbestos by then, will stand the risk of contracting asbestos-caused lung cancer or mesothelioma which will show up some 20-40 years later.
History of asbestos-related diseases in Japan
Japan has a long history of asbestos-related diseases as follows:
- First asbestosis case in Japan: reported in 1937.
- First lung cancer due to asbestos exposure in Japan: reported in 1960.
- First mesothelioma case in Japan: reported in 1973.
Since 1973, asbestos-related diseases have been reported in:
- asbestos products manufacturing plants
- shipyards
- harbors
- automobile manufacturing plants
- construction worksites
Epidemiology of asbestos-related diseases in Japan
Mesothelioma mortality rates in Japan started being officially compiled only since 1995. From this data, it emerges that:
- Five-to-six people per million population are dying of mesothelioma every year.
- Each mesothelioma case is associated with one-to-two cases of asbestos-related lung cancer.
- In 2003, 900 people died of mesothelioma and another 400 of asbestos-related lung cancer.
- Mesothelioma latency period in Japan varied between 20 and 40 years.
- Since more than 50% of male adults in Japan are smokers, there is a synergistic relationship between asbestos exposure and smoking.
- Asbestos-related diseases overwhelmingly affect men than women in Japan. Most cases of affected women can be traced to household or environmental exposure instead of occupational exposure that applies to most male patients.
Future outlook
Asbestos-related death figures are lower in Japan (in proportion to per capita asbestos consumption) than in the West. This is probably due to misdiagnosis and non-reporting of cases in Japan for a better part of the past 10 years. With more realistic reporting now, and given the 20-40 year latency period, Japan is likely to see over 100,000 asbestos-related deaths by 2040. |
Summary
Japan was later than other developed countries in banning use of asbestos. Though the ban came in 2002, asbestos is still used when safer substitutes are unavailable. It may not be until 2008 that asbestos use comes to a complete halt.
Mesotheliomia mortality rates became available in Japan only since 1995. Since more than 50% of male Japanese adults are smokers, there exists a synergistic relationship between asbestos-caused lung cancer and smoking. Factoring a 20-40 year latency period of these diseases, it can be inferred from official data that over 100,000 people will die of asbestos-related cancer between 2000 and 2040 in Japan. |
