The Technological Politics of Asbestos
The politics of Asbestos mining and use in everyday applications is vast and shocking when you take into consideration the negligence of those who clearly knew the associated dangers. As a technological product asbestos demonstrates the dangers that can be associated with technology especially when the process is financially driven. Its use is still seen in Australia and it seems that it will continue to be used until 2003 when there are plans to implement a total ban on its use. On May 18, 2001 the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council decided to ban the material that has caused illness and death for hundreds and thousands of people in Australia and overseas (Robinson, 2001). Thousands of miners taking the raw material from the ground as well as people exposed to its use in building applications were totally unaware of the dangers. The worst affected areas of Australia have been that of the Asbestos mine at Wittenoom in Western Australia, deemed as "Australia's greatest industrial disaster" (Hills, p.12 1989), and the power stations of Gippsland's Latrobe Valley.
Asbestos has been mined and used for nearly 2000 years for its fire resistant and insulation qualities. Roman slaves wore crude respirators made from animal bladders to protect themselves from breathing the visible fibres (The Age, March 4, 2001). They would not have known the potential dangers of breathing these fibres, nor would they have been aware, or known the dangers of the invisible fibres. It was not until 1898 that a link was made between lung cancer and exposure to asbestos (Barry, 1988)
In the twentieth century, despite medical knowledge that asbestos was dangerous, workers were routinely exposed to it until just 20 years ago and according to some reports, even up until this year (Financial Review, 28.2.01). The Wittenoom mine was opened by CSR in 1943 and closed in 1966. Those 23 years have been predicted to take up to 2000 lives of the miners and their families that lived close by in the township (Barry, 1988). The first case of asbestosis at Wittenoom was in 1946, and in 1948 doctors warned CSR that there would be an epidemic of fatal chest disease if conditions did not improve.. In 1961 the first diagnosis of the virulent lung disease Mesothelioma was made. Mesothelioma has only one cause, breathing asbestos fibres, unlike lung cancer caused by asbestos that is very similar to lung cancer caused by Nicotine and other chemicals associated with smoking. Therefore, there was no other explanation as to why people could be inflicted with the disease. It takes many years to incubate but then kills within a very short time.
The politics of Asbestos mining and use in everyday applications is vast and shocking when you take into consideration the negligence of those who clearly knew the associated dangers. As a technological product asbestos demonstrates the dangers that can be associated with technology especially when the process is financially driven. Its use is still seen in Australia and it seems that it will continue to be used until 2003 when there are plans to implement a total ban on its use. On May 18, 2001 the Workplace Relations Ministers' Council decided to ban the material that has caused illness and death for hundreds and thousands of people in Australia and overseas (Robinson, 2001). Thousands of miners taking the raw material from the ground as well as people exposed to its use in building applications were totally unaware of the dangers. The worst affected areas of Australia have been that of the Asbestos mine at Wittenoom in Western Australia, deemed as "Australia's greatest industrial disaster" (Hills, p.12 1989), and the power stations of Gippsland's Latrobe Valley.
Asbestos has been mined and used for nearly 2000 years for its fire resistant and insulation qualities. Roman slaves wore crude respirators made from animal bladders to protect themselves from breathing the visible fibres (The Age, March 4, 2001). They would not have known the potential dangers of breathing these fibres, nor would they have been aware, or known the dangers of the invisible fibres. It was not until 1898 that a link was made between lung cancer and exposure to asbestos (Barry, 1988)
In the twentieth century, despite medical knowledge that asbestos was dangerous, workers were routinely exposed to it until just 20 years ago and according to some reports, even up until this year (Financial Review, 28.2.01). The Wittenoom mine was opened by CSR in 1943 and closed in 1966. Those 23 years have been predicted to take up to 2000 lives of the miners and their families that lived close by in the township (Barry, 1988). The first case of asbestosis at Wittenoom was in 1946, and in 1948 doctors warned CSR that there would be an epidemic of fatal chest disease if conditions did not improve.. In 1961 the first diagnosis of the virulent lung disease Mesothelioma was made. Mesothelioma has only one cause, breathing asbestos fibres, unlike lung cancer caused by asbestos that is very similar to lung cancer caused by Nicotine and other chemicals associated with smoking. Therefore, there was no other explanation as to why people could be inflicted with the disease. It takes many years to incubate but then kills within a very short time.
