title: Scientific controversy and asbestos: making disease invisible.
abstract: Despite irrefutable evidence that asbestos causes asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, asbestos mining, milling, and manufacturing continue. The authors discuss three scientific debates over the roles of fiber types, viruses, and genetics in the development of mesothelioma. While these controversies might appear internal to science and unconnected to policies of the global asbestos industry, they argue that scientific debates, whether or not fostered by industry, play a central role in shaping conceptualization of the problem of asbestos-related disease. In South Africa, India, and elsewhere, these controversies help to make the disease experience of asbestos-exposed workers and people in asbestos-contaminated communities invisible, allowing the asbestos industry to escape accountability for its practices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Center for Environmental Studies, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA.
authors.forename: Lundy
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Braun
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Greene
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manseau
authors.forename: Raman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Singhal
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kisting
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jacobs
mesh_terms: D001194:Asbestos / Q000009:adverse effects*; D001195:Asbestosis / Q000209:etiology*; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003906:Developing Countries; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007221:Industry; D019359:Knowledge; D008654:Mesothelioma / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D011640:Public Policy; D012307:Risk Factors; D012586:Science / Q000639:trends; D013019:South Africa
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D001194:Asbestos