May 16, 2018 Re: Open Letter to the Asbestos Industry - The End is Nigh! To Whom it May Concern, Recent developments and new data substantiate the conclusion that the end for the deadly asbestos industry is fast approaching.1 Wholesale rejection of asbestos by international agencies, regional bodies, national governments and consumers has resulted in a dramatic fall in asbestos demand and a considerable diminution of this toxic industry’s influence.2 With impending asbestos bans in Canada, Brazil, the Ukraine and Moldova, it is clear that the dominance by vested interests of the global asbestos debate is long gone. As of today, there are only two countries – Russia and Kazakhstan3 – exporting asbestos fiber. These countries are holding the rest of the world to ransom4 and, in doing so, could be responsible for millions of asbestos deaths.5 When the time comes to compensate the injured and remediate the environmental contamination, the polluters will be long gone. Asbestos victims, devastated communities and national governments will pay the price for the asbestos industry’s profits. In Brazil, formerly one of the world’s biggest asbestos producers, an event is being held this week (May 15-18, 2018), which underscores the huge transformation in the public’s perception of asbestos; once lauded as “the magic mineral,” asbestos is now widely regarded as “the killer dust.” In a somewhat delicious irony, the costs of the international São Paulo seminar entitled “Brazil without Asbestos (Brasil Sem Amianto)” are being paid for with fines recovered by Labor Prosecutors from companies found to have contravened state health and safety asbestos legislation.6 We wish our Brazilian colleagues the best of luck with this important event and pledge our support for the multitude of initiatives progressing national bans and providing support for the injured in India,7 Laos, Cambodia, Colombia, Myanmar, Nepal,8 Indonesia,9 the Cook Islands, Tonga,10 Vietnam, South Africa11 and elsewhere. As support for the global campaign to ban asbestos continues to grow via grassroots mobilization, regional authorities and international agencies are adopting new strategies to protect human health and the environment from toxic exposures. On April 10, 2018, the European Commission reiterated its stance on asbestos stating: “The Commission shares the view that exposure to asbestos is a matter of serious concern which should be adequately tackled both at EU and national level.”12 Earlier this month (May, 2018) at the 32nd International Congress on Occupational Health, Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Secretary General of International Social Security Association – a body which in 2004 urged “all countries to ban the manufacture, trade and use of all types of asbestos and asbestos-containing products as soon as possible”13 – categorized the fact that we do not live in an asbestos-free world as “embarrassing.”14 The six-page “Dublin Statement on Occupational Health” issued at the end of that Congress was categorical about the urgent need for action. Recommendations made included: securing a covenant for implementing a global ban on asbestos, providing financial, technical and educational support for countries seeking to achieve a ban, implementing