ILO Action towards the elimination of asbestos-related diseases

Abstract      Asbestos hazards represent serious risks for the health of workers, the public and the environment. All types of asbestos are classified as agents carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency on Research for Cancer (IARC). Asbestos is an important occupational carcinogen that causes more than 107,000 deaths every year according to the estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO). No threshold has been identified for the carcinogenic risks of asbestos and there is a dose-response relationship between hazardous asbestos exposures and the appearance of asbestos-related diseases. Safer substitute materials exist for all uses of asbestos and they should be used whenever this is possible. The ILO action towards the elimination of asbestos-related diseases is aimed at the establishment of comprehensive national action programmes and is based on the relevant ILO international instruments, namely, the Occupational Cancer Convention No.139, Working Environment Convention No. 148, Asbestos Convention No.162, and the Resolution on Asbestos, 2006. The ILO action is convergent with the WHO strategy on the elimination of asbestos-related diseases and the two organizations are actively collaborating to address the challenges of asbestos.