This morning at 5:30am my beloved wife of 27 years Gill died from Mesothelioma. Its caused by Asbestos – one of ~4,000 who die each year from this cursed product in OZ. She devoted her last days to telling the Asbestos story and was excited to see the recent media coverage.
In her memory we launched a new website https://asbestosawarenessaustralia.com.au which features her research. AAA is a registered charity, founded by Gill to warn people of the risks. One third of property in OZ contains this product which kills over a life-time from one exposure.
She wanted her legacy to be no more unnecessary deaths, plus legal and political change to remove the risk from future generations. We will treasure you memory Gill, and continue your work….
Astonishing to realise that 4,000 people die EACH YEAR from asbestos exposure in OZ – a corporate crime?
ABC spoke to my wife Gill, about her asbestos disease for The Drum. Her powerful plea is on YouTube. Pity they could not spell her name correctly – Professor Gill North… Please share. More at Asbestos Awareness Australia. https://asbestosawarenessaustralia.com.au/
She has been an inspiration, researching the issue of Asbestos over more than 3 years, founding a charity, Asbestos Awareness Australia. See this link for all the reports. https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/?s=asbestos
The rising risk is now the third wave – DIY renovators. And more women are being killed. This is not an old man’s disease, nor is it abating. One third of property in Australia, including residential, commercial and public buildings is exposed. And just a few fibres on one occasion are sufficient to seed the disease, many years later.
More than 4,000 Australians die unnecessarily each and every year due to avoidable exposure to asbestos. Yet inaction from the firms who created the problem, as well as from Governments and regulatory bodies leads to the conclusion this is probably one of the biggest and most intractable corporate scandals in Australia.
Using research from Asbestos Awareness Australia, a registered charity with the objective of raising awareness in the community, we examine how it is that companies driven by greed are able to play the system, while more people die.
The worst form of the disease is mesothelioma, a cancer which has a 5 year survivability rate of just 6.5%, the worst on the cancer scale. And yet, even short-term exposure is sufficient to cause the disease to appear years later, and those doing DIY renovations are most at risk.
Public awareness campaigns are mute, and an estimated more than one third of properties across the country (homes, businesses, and Government buildings (e.g. schools) are exposure sites. In addition to rotting old asbestos, we are still importing products contains this carcinogen.
Reform is long (60 years) over due but because of corporate capture, nothing is changing. This video explains what is going. It is a classic case study.
Around 4,000 people die each year from Asbestos related disease, including around 800 from mesothelioma, perhaps the most vile of the cancers. The asbestos ban in 2003 in Australia was ‘a significant victory for the trade union movement’ … [but] ‘unfortunately represented a story of the lack of political will by governments at Federal and State levels to act in the health interests of their community.’
Our survey of more than 43,000 Australian households found that knowledge about the following basic facts is very poor:
The level of exposure to asbestos that is dangerous.
The period of exposure to asbestos that is dangerous.
The deadliness of exposure to asbestos.4. The annual death count from asbestos-related diseases in Australia.
Most Australian households have not been properly warned about the risks and impacts of legacy asbestos, do not know that their lives are at stake, and are not using licensed asbestos professionals. Further, most Australians readily exclude themselves from any of the ‘at risk” categories and most think the death count from asbestos-related diseases each year is below 50.
Overall, the survey findings are consistent with inadequate public information, education, and warnings in Australia on asbestos threats and consequences.
Our broader research points to longstanding key messages that have been promulgated by James Hardie Industries Ltd “James Hardie”, CSR Ltd “CSR”, and the federal and state governments in Australia to downplay the risks of asbestos exposure outside of workplaces and to mask the scale of deaths from asbestos-related diseases.
Messages that are commonly portrayed within official and public health sources in Australia include the following:Half Truths or Misconceptions:
Instances of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related illnesses are rare and have peaked.
The numbers of historical deaths from asbestos-related diseases are uncertain.
Public health messaging on asbestos risks should be disseminated on a limited basis, so as not to scare the community.
Current cases of asbestos-related disease result from historical settings that no longer exist today.
The risks of asbestos-related diseases are largely confined to working-class older men.
Asbestos-related diseases require (or usually involve) intense exposure over long periods.
The risks of asbestos-related diseases are largely confined to people with occupational exposure to asbestos.
Much of the exposure of the Australian population to asbestos (and the comparative incidental exposure levels used in scientific modelling) is caused by naturally occurring asbestos.
Legacy asbestos products that are bonded or encased are safe and best left in position.
It is safer to “manage” than to remove in situ asbestos.
In this show, Asbestos Awareness Australia discusses the first eight of the above messages.
The last two claims are more complex and will be debated in a future one. We ultimately categorise these messages as misconceptions or half-truths because they are incomplete and misleading when not conveyed with proper context.
And ask yourself, why are these misconceptions are still commonly used?
Public and unequivocal acknowledgement by the industry and the federal and state governments of the continuing risks of legacy asbestos in homes, and the associated deaths arising from exposure to asbestos outside of workplace settings, would have serious repercussions. Such public recognition of the asbestos crisis would bring asbestos concerns to the forefront of the public mind.
Asbestos Awareness Australia Ltd is a registered not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, is a registered charity, and has endorsement from the Australian Taxation Office as a gift deductible recipient. The company was set up:
To enhance public awareness and knowledge of the dangers of asbestos threats.
To promote measures and policies that prevent or minimise the harms from asbestos-related diseases.
To achieve these objectives, the company provides public access to widely sourced information on asbestos risks and impacts, including the associated medical, legal, and political debates.
In the latest in our series on the health risks arising from Asbestos, we look at the scientific endeavours which have warped the truth, and excluded public debate. We use important research from Asbestos Awareness Australia.
Given that around 4,000 people in Australia die each year from exposure to Asbestos, and of that more than 800 die from the severe disease of mesothelioma, its time for fresh thinking and more specific alerts to the community, especially those undertaking DIY renovations. At least a third of all property across Australia contains highly dangerous Asbestos. Yet science is mute. And in the third wave ever more women are being impacted.
“[N]ot only was the medical profession’s reaction to the asbestos hazard often feeble, but scientists have also been among the industry’s most strident defenders. There are two reasons why that was so: corporate suppression and intimidation meant that criticism of the industry came at a price … and the convergence of the economic, political and social interests of the scientific establishment and commerce. “
Here is the full report for download and printing.
This show explains why we have launched this initiative, in a effort to protect the estimated 4,000 or so people who each year are diagnosed with a life shortening un-treatable man-made and totally preventable disease. And that is just in Australia!
“The politicization of science is used by industry to immobilise debate, by excluding the victims and the public from participation in the conflict. That exclusion is a political strategy which is rarely, if ever, justified by the nature of the explanation involved, or by the methodology physicians use in researching diseases and their cause. What needs to be done is to transfer the asbestos controversy into the public arena, so that the issue is no longer seen or defined as a technical problem for experts in the legal, medial, technocratic and bureaucratic spheres to debate unhindered by an informed public”.
• Volunteer your time. • Submit a memorial for a loved one. • Submit a warning to the community. • Provide feedback to us on material presented. • Donate on a one off or subscriber basis, so we can enlarge our plans to enhance awareness of asbestos dangers and consequences in Australia.
Asbestos Awareness Australia Ltd is a registered not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, is a registered charity, and has endorsement from the Australian Taxation Office as a gift deductible recipient. The company was set up:
• To enhance public awareness and knowledge of the dangers of asbestos threats. • To promote measures and policies that prevent or minimise the harms from asbestos-related diseases.
To achieve these objectives, the company provides public access to widely sourced information on asbestos risks and impacts, including the associated medical, legal, and political debates.
In the latest of our series on Asbestos, we consider how many lives have been lost to asbestos-related diseases in Australia and beyond. The scale of these fatalities may astound you.
Data was provided by Asbestos Awareness Australia, and the report is available for download here:
We suggest the asbestos industry, other corporations, governments, and other agencies have done their utmost to cover-up or suppress these death count. Many from among the monied and political interest groups know that public knowledge about the continuing mass deaths caused by legacy asbestos could have profound consequences, including community unrest and strident calls for action.
Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/
Using data provided by Asbestos Awareness Australia we examine the dynamics of research economics, and highlight how politics and profit distorts investment and thus medical progress. If a particular disease is presented as “an old man’s disease”, a “working class disease”, funding is less likely to be provided. Plus the industry has a track record of financing “experts” if they tow the right lines. Full report is below.
Debates concerning the roles and purposes of corporations within society are longstanding. Some scholars and practitioners view shareholder returns as the primary or sole driver of company board and executive decisions. Others adopt a broader perspective because companies necessarily rely on, interact with, and impact other stakeholders such as employees, customers, and the broader community.
Corporate models that prioritise and encompass these broader stakeholder harms and impacts are referred to as, and reflected within, “corporate social responsibility” or “corporate sustainability” frameworks. When operating well, these frameworks require companies to publicly acknowledge and mitigate the societal harms caused by their activities. These models recognise that corporations are a legal creation, exist because of policy concessions, and require long term community support to continue to operate successfully.
Asbestos is a classic case study of the ability of companies to benefit from short-term profits, while socialising most of the longer-term harms.
This show, using information from Asbestos Awareness Australia, considers the continuing harms and externalities generated by the prior activities of James Hardie and CSR against the stated corporate sustainability and social license objectives and achievements of these publicly listed companies. We show that “words and figures differ”.
