International scientific cooperation on asbestos-related disease prevention in Latin America.

The International Labour Organization-World Health Organization Outline for the Development of National Programmes for Elimination of asbestos-related diseases recommends the “Enhancement of international cooperation to stimulate the transfer of know-how on alternatives to asbestos and the best practices for prevention of asbestos-related diseases” as a strategic action to be developed at national level. In this framework, the Italian National Asbestos project (www.iss.it/amianto), financed by the Ministry of Health within the Italian Asbestos National Plan, aims to develop collaborations on diverse asbestos-related research, training and dissemination activities in countries where asbestos use is still permitted or has been recently banned, with a particular attention to Latin American countries. This viewpoint focuses on asbestos consumption and epidemiologic studies in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In the second half of the 20th century, Latin America was one of the regions in the world in which the global asbestos industry displaced local industrial mining, production, and trade of asbestos. These activities also are currently maintained by the domestic industry and a widespread use of asbestos is still present in many Latin American countries. Consumption in Latin America was initially supported by the import of both asbestos fibers and asbestoscontaining products, mostly from Canada and the United States and by asbestos cement production mostly concentrated by the multinational Eternit group. Between 1960 and 1980, major consumption was concentrated in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina. Consumption in Latin America peaked in 1980 with 356,033 tons used, half of which was consumed by Brazil (Table 1). The latter maintained the position as the dominant asbestos