Danger in the Dust~International Effort~Investigative Journalists~Asbestos

[Guest guest]

_http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/asbestos/_

(http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/asbestos/)

About This Project

July 21, 2010

In the fall of 2009, the _International Consortium of Investigative

Journalists_ (http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/icij/) began

looking

into the global trade in asbestos, a cancer-causing fiber banned or

restricted in much of the industrialized world but aggressively marketed in

developing countries. What evolved was a nine-month investigation of an

international lobby, much of it coordinated from Canada, which promotes the use

of

asbestos in construction materials and other products.

ICIJ joined with reporters and producers with the _BBC's International

News Services_ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10623725) to document the

asbestos industry’s activities in Brazil, Canada, China, India, Mexico,

Russia,

and the United States. Our investigation concluded that the industry has

spent nearly $100 million since the mid-1980s to keep asbestos in commerce.

The team’s reporting reveals close relationships among the industry,

governments and scientists, and cites predictions from health experts that new

epidemics of asbestos-related disease will emerge in the coming decades. Some

experts believe that by 2030, asbestos will have taken as many as 10

million lives around the world.

Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade is based on

extensive research in eight countries. The team relied on thousands of pages of

documents, including court filings, scientific studies, and financial records,

as well as on interviews with health officials, industry representatives,

scientists, victims, lawyers, and activists....

About ICIJ

ICIJ was founded in 1997 as a project of the Center for Public Integrity

to marshal the talents of some of the world’s leading investigative

reporters in pursuit of vital stories that do not stop at the water’s edge. A

unique collaboration of more than 100 investigative reporters in 50 different

countries, ICIJ works on in-depth projects on difficult-to-tackle subjects in

the public interest, from the arms trade to water privatization to climate

change. For more on ICIJ, visit our _website_

(http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/icij/) .

Other articles out today about this subject:

BBC:

_http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10623725_

(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10623725) (also, several radio and TV stories)

**************************************************

McClatchy-Tribune wire:

_http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/21/97625/lobbyists-push-use-of-deadly-as

bestos.html_

(http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/21/97625/lobbyists-push-use-of-deadly-asbest\

os.html)