UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

ASBESTOS: WONDER FIBRE - SERIAL KILLER

The Faculty of Health Sciences and the Board of Control of the Adler Museum of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, cordially invite you to view the exhibition: ASBESTOS: WONDER FIBRE ? SERIAL KILLER. The exhibition was opened on 7 July 2008 by Richard Spoor, an attorney who has been vitally concerned with occupational health and safety issues for over 20 years. The exhibition will be on view until 7 August 2008.

South Africa stopped mining asbestos in 2002. However,
o The chronic effects of asbestosis take years to become manifest
o The extended latency of asbestos-related mesothelioma ranges from 15 to 50 years
o The massive environmental pollution left by the asbestos mines poses an ongoing hazard.

New cases of asbestos related disease will emerge until 2050 or later.

Asbestos is a family of fibrous minerals which were exploited for centuries because of their unique characteristics. The Greek historian Herodotus (5th century BC) spoke of fireproof shrouds used to preserve the ashes of kings. The fibres are impervious to ferocious heat and chemical attack and were separated into fibres, spun and woven into cloth and used to make perpetual wicks for sepulchral lamps.

All three of the commercial asbestos types were mined in large quantities in South Africa. From the start of the 20th century, evidence of the health dangers of the minerals began to accumulate. South African researchers started working on the subject. Early publications include: The incidence of respiratory disability in workers employed in Asbestos Mining, with special reference to disability caused by the inhalation of asbestos dust by Dr GF Slade who was awarded the first MD by Wits in 1929. The fact that asbestos fibres cause pleural plaques, asbestosis and lung cancer was well documented by the end of World War II.

In spite of the gathering evidence of asbestos dangers, mining and recovering of the fibres was poorly controlled. Workers were unaware of the risks they were taking and the epidemic of asbestos related diseases escalated.

An exhibition of photographs by David Goldblatt, taken in Australia and South Africa, which highlights the devastation asbestos mining has caused to the people involved in mining operations, their families, and the environment, will be shown.

This is a temporary exhibition and shown at different times during the year, please phone the Museum to find out which exhibitions are currently on view.