HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: AJPH.2005.064998v1 96/8/1386    most recent Submit a response Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (1) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Braun, L. Articles by Kisting, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Braun, L. Articles by Kisting, S. Related Collections Other Respiratory Health Cancer Other Environment Occupational Health History Other Race/Ethnicity

Lundy Braun, PhD and Sophia Kisting, MD

Lundy Braun is with the Departments of Africana Studies and Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI. Sophia Kisting is with the Occupational and Environmental Health Research Unit, School of Public Health and Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Correspondence: Requests for reprints should be sent to Lundy Braun, PhD, Box G, Brown University, Providence, RI 02910 (e-mail: lundy_braun{at}brown.edu).

South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitative social conditions, former workers and residents of mining regions suffered—and continue to suffer—from a serious yet still largely undocumented burden of asbestos-related disease. This epidemic has been invisible both internationally and inside South Africa.

We examined the work environment, labor policies, and occupational-health framework of the asbestos industry in South Africa during the 20th century. In a changing local context where the majority of workers were increasingly disenfranchised, unorganized, excluded from skilled work, and predominantly rural, mining operations of the asbestos industry not only exposed workers to high levels of asbestos but also contaminated the environment extensively.