Defending the Indefensible

In the early twentieth century, asbestos had a reputation as a lifesaver. In 1960, however, it became known that even relatively brief exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, a virulent and lethal cancer. Yet the bulk of the world's asbestos was mined after 1960. Asbestos usage in many countries continued unabated.This is the first global history of how the asbestos industry and its allies in government,insurance, and medicine defended the product throughout the twentieth century. It explains how mining and manufacture could continue despite overwhelming medical evidence as to the risks. The argument advanced inthis book is that asbestos has proved so enduring because the industry was able to mount a successful defense strategy for the mineral - a strategy that still operates in some parts of the world. This defence involved the shaping of the public debate by censoring, and sometimes corrupting, scientific research, nurturing scientific uncertainty, and using allies in government, insurance, and medicine. The book also discusses the problems of asbestos in the environment,compensating victims, and the continued use of asbestos in the developing world. Its global focus shows how asbestos can be seen as a model for many occupational diseases - indeed for a whole range ofhazards produced by industrial societies. The book is based on a wealth of documentary material gained from legal discovery, supplemented by evidence from the authors' visits and researches in the US, the UK, Canada, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Australia, Swaziland, and South Africa.

Winner of Winner of the Wadsworth Prize in Business History 2009 awarded by the Business Archives Council.

“Given all that has been written and said about asbestos over the past 30 years is there anything else worth knowing? Do we really need another book on asbestos? After reading Defending the Indefensible the emphatic answer I reached was yes. This book is a tour-de-force of informed and concerned scholarship.”

Even though more than 40 countries have banned asbestos, most of the world's people still live in countries where asbestos use continues and is poorly controlled. This book is an insightful analysis of toxic corporate crime and a cautionary tale for the developing world today from two major contributors to our knowledge of the asbestos industry.'Barry Castleman, author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, and independent environmental consultant to a range of governmental and non-governmental organizationsIn this fascinating and important new book we learn about the truly international dimensions of the asbestos tragedy and the efforts of an industry to maintain its market in the face of mounting evidence of its dangers. We owe a debt of gratitude to McColloch and Tweedale for a study that pulls together an immense literature and brings to the table new documentation of a world-wide cover-up and continuing tragedy.'David Rosner, Ronald H. Lauterstein Professor of Sociomedical Sciences and History, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University

Jock McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale are historians with long-term research interests in health, corporate history, and mining. They have published widely on the history of industrial hazards. They have written three books on the asbestos industry covering manufacture and mining in the UK, South Africa, and Australia.

In the early twentieth century, asbestos had a reputation as a lifesaver. In 1960, however, it became known that even relatively brief exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, a virulent and lethal cancer. Yet the bulk of the world's asbestos was mined after 1960. Asbestos usage in many countries continued unabated.This is the first global history of how the asbestos industry and its allies in government, insurance, and medicine defended the product throughout the twentieth century. It explains how mining and manufacture could continue despite overwhelming medical evidence as to the risks. The argument advanced in this book is that asbestos has proved so enduring because the industry was able to mount a successful defense strategy for the mineral - a strategy that still operates in some parts of the world. This defence involved the shaping of the public debate by censoring, and sometimes corrupting, scientific research, nurturing scientific uncertainty, and using allies in government, insurance, and medicine. The book also discusses the problems of asbestos in the environment, compensating victims, and the continued use of asbestos in the developing world. Its global focus shows how asbestos can be seen as a model for many occupational diseases - indeed for a whole range of hazards produced by industrial societies. The book is based on a wealth of documentary material gained from legal discovery, supplemented by evidence from the authors' visits and researches in the US, the UK, Canada, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Australia, Swaziland, and South Africa.

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