Asbestos-related disease in South Africa: the social production of an invisible epidemic

Abstract

South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitative social conditions, former workers and residents of mining regions suffered--and continue to suffer--from a serious yet still largely undocumented burden of asbestos-related disease. This epidemic has been invisible both internationally and inside South Africa. We examined the work environment, labor policies, and occupational-health framework of the asbestos industry in South Africa during the 20th century. In a changing local context where the majority of workers were increasingly disenfranchised, unorganized, excluded from skilled work, and predominantly rural, mining operations of the asbestos industry not only exposed workers to high levels of asbestos but also contaminated the environment extensively.

FIGURE 1—

Map of South Africa depicting the location of former mines, factories, and railroad lines that carried asbestos to ports for export. Source: Parliament of South Africa.

FIGURE 2—

An asbestos adit on a hillside in the North-West Province, 2002.

FIGURE 3—

Large masses of dried blue asbestos fibers mixed with mine tailings in a partially rehabilitated dump close to human settlements in the Northern Cape Province, 2001. Arrow indicates asbestos.

FIGURE 4—

Blue asbestos along the banks of a dried riverbed in the Orange River in the town of Prieska, 2001. Arrows indicates asbestos.