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What is the problem? Asbestos exposure may well be the number one occupational and environmental health problem in the United Kingdom today. Actions for compensation regarding consequences of asbestos exposure have affected thousands of individuals and major companies and have shaken the insurance industry. For many years, how‐ever, there has also been increasing concern over the potential for asbestos exposure in public buildings, including schools and office buildings.

This chapter considers the toxic chemical asbestos as a salient example of the ever-widening gap in achieving the paradoxical aspirations of ensuring a high-quality environment and a healthy economy espoused in the Agenda 21 principles arising from the Earth Summit in 1992. In particular, this chapter reviews the scrutiny proposed around the production of toxic components and the disposal of poisonous and hazardous wastes. Despite an increase in global regulation, the elimination of asbestos mining, production and disposal of waste has not been achieved globally. We consider the various non-government and supranational organisations that provide commentary and responses to the global asbestos issue, as well as, a sample of key campaigns and corporate exemplars to highlight issues of governance and risk.

Introduction In the paper ‘Asbestos: The Hidden Threat’ published in Property Management Vol 3 No 4, the nature of the asbestos problem and the various means of managing the risk were discussed. In particular, reference was made to the use of consultants, laboratories, and contractors, unless an occupier has in‐house capabilities. In considering the problem in the UK, it is necessary to discuss the constraints which are placed upon these parties, as well as on employers and occupiers.

Last month we dealt with the problem of identifying the nature and extent of the asbestos used in your buildings. This month we offer more detailed advice on dealing with that problem.

One of the more disturbing features of surveying in the 1980s is the ever‐increasing number of building materials, structural systems and working practices that have been labelled ‘hazardous’ or ‘unhealthy’. Although consumerism and melo‐dramatic media coverage have fuelled much of this, it must not be forgotten that business interests may be behind many of the campaigns: allowing disinformation or exaggeration to discredit competitors. Fortunes have been made by some firms from exploiting the public's fears and offering specialist remedies covered by dubious guarantees.

The growing attention paid to the adverse health effects of exposure of the Israeli public to asbestos fibres has resulted in a comprehensive programme of sampling and analysis. Monitoring covered many regions, especially areas where relatively high concentrations of fibres were expected. Modern electron microscopy techniques give an accurate picture of the situation in the general environment. In addition, specific regulations dealing with the asbestos problem were issued by the Ministries of Health and Labor, including occupational and emission standards. For the general environment a guideline (but not a standard) value of 1,600 f/m⊃3 was adopted.

REGULATIONS The Secretary of State—

Some months ago a national organisation established to keep a watchful eye on the Nation's diet expressed concern over the eating trends of people in what to them appeared to be developing inbalances of necessary nutrient factors and the inadeuacy not so much of calories and energy values but in the nature and quality of main food factors. It was recommended that the national diet should be improved, but the authorities pointed to the National Food Survey results to show that the diet was not deficient; that the average daily intake of protein, vitamins, minerals and overall energy requirements were satisfied; all of which is true for the not‐too‐generous levels set. Even the pensioner households included in the Survey sample appear well‐fed. What causes concern is the year‐by‐year decrease in staple foods consumed—milk, red meat, bread, fresh vegetables—and the heavy reliance on refined, processed foods. In its annual reports on NFS reviews, the BFJ has almost monotonously referred to this downward trend. Individual NFS Reports do not reveal any serious deficiencies, as yet, but in the trend over the years—and herein lies the real value of the Survey and its data—few if any of the changes have been for the better; movements in food groups have tended to be downwards. If these trends continue, the time must surely come when there will be real deficiencies; that substitution within a food group cannot make good essential foods severely rationed by high prices.

April 8, 1974 Factory — Asbestos dust — Crocidolite — Demolition work including process of removal of lagging — No knowledge or reasonable grounds for supposing crocidolite involved in lagging — Obligation to give advance notice of beginning of process — Obligation to provide approved respiratory protective equipment and protective clothing — Whether absolute — Asbestos Regulations, 1969 (S.I. 1969 No. 690), regs. 6(2), 8(1) (a) (b).

In 1982, three solvent companies filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the United States Code Bankruptcy to halt an onslaught of asbestos‐related lawsuits. These companies were Ametex, UNR Industries, and the Manville Corporation.