A Systematic Policy of Misinformation on the Toxicity of Asbestos: Lobbying as Key Component of a Major Health Crisis

Abstract

Asbestos is one of the most-deadly occupational carcinogens on the planet. Its toxicity has been proven by scientific studies conducted for several decades, including for people who have never worked in industries directly related to asbestos, or who have massively used it. The serious diseases and deaths caused by asbestos have provoked a major health crisis which has led to significant media exposure and then to resounding trials of victims and families of victims claiming compensation. The article aims to underline that if the toxicity of asbestos has been known for a long time, the manufacturers of the sector have succeeded in protecting their activity thanks to a policy of misinformation driven by powerful lobbying companies. The interest of the asbestos health crisis is to underline that the tools used for misinformation can counter, over a long period of time, the most relevant scientific arguments seeking to establish the reality of the facts. From a methodological point of view, secondary data were collected from official reports and minutes of meetings of lobbying companies, including meetings of the Asbestos permanent committee (Comité permanent amiante, or CPA) in France. The study contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms of misinformation to fight for several decades the scientific evidence from several hundred medical publications.