标题：The JPC-SE Position Statement on Asbestos: A Long-Overdue Appeal by Epidemiologists to Ban Asbestos Worldwide and End Related Global Environmental Injustice
摘要：Recently, the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the Societies of Epidemiology (SE), a consortium of national and international epidemiologic societies and organizations, released a statement calling for the global ban of asbestos use (JPC‑SE 2012). This is not the first such call for an international ban (Collegium Ramazzini 2010), but it is a significant one because it is endorsed by 10 member organizations of the JPC‑SE, numerous major epidemiologic and public health associations, and many epidemiologists (JPC‑SE 2012). This position statement also highlights a case of global environmental injustice on a massive scale. For decades asbestos has been known to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other respiratory and cancerous conditions (LaDou et al. 2010). Asbestos exposure was the number one occupational health problem until its use was banned in most of the developing world (International Ban Asbestos Secretariat 2012). As a legacy of past asbestos use, the number of cases of asbestos-related diseases continues to climb every year across Canada and in many other industrialized countries. Consequently, the countries that used asbestos in the past, such as Canada, the United States, Australia, and countries throughout Europe, have either adopted a legal ban or have virtually ceased using asbestos altogether.
