Asbestos Life and Death in Australia

Asbestos, Australia's “worst industrial menace,” remains a potent threat to its citizens, a decade after its use was banned. It is believed that up to two million tonnes of asbestos were used over a fifty year period. Australian society embraced asbestos technology with an almost unrivalled gusto; as domestic production of blue and white asbestos was insufficient to satisfy demand, 1.5 million tonnes of fiber were imported.1 Australia is paying a high price for its love affair with asbestos; whereas it had once led the world in per capita asbestos use, it now leads in the incidence of asbestos cancer. Over the next two decades, it has been predicted that up to 40,000 Australians will be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease. Asbestos Life and Death in Australia: