Lundy Braun ^1* Sophia Kisting ²

¹ Brown University
² University of Cape Town

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lundy_braun{at}brown.edu.

	Abstract

South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitive 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.

To make visible the material practices and conditions that produced this occupational and environmental epidemic, and to integrate knowledge about these practices and conditions with causal understandings of asbestos-related disease, 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 froms killed 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.

Key Words: Cancer, Environment, History, Occupational Health, Race/Ethnicity, Respiratory Health

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. Braun Structuring silence: asbestos and biomedical research in Britain and South Africa Race Class, July 1, 2008; 50(1): 59 - 78. [Abstract] [PDF]