At the beginning of the 20th century, asbestos production became a major industry. Asbestos was mined throughout Britain, Australia, Canada, South Africa and many other countries, including the United States. The knowledge of hazardous exposure to asbestos occurred early in the evolution of the industry, with the first published medical report of a man dying from fibrosis of the lungs occurring in 1906.
By the late 1920's, evidence of asbestosis became obvious at several asbestos plants in Britain. The problem became so bad that in 1930 the British government funded a survey. This survey showed that if employees had worked with asbestos for ten years or more, the rate of sickness from asbestosis was geometric. However, the report also stated that if the dust from asbestos could be kept to a minimum, then the disease could be controlled. It further noted that only those employees who directly handled the asbestos were at risk. While this report showed high occurrence of the disease, little was done to stop the dangers associated with asbestos.
While the relationship between asbestosis and asbestos was relatively obvious by 1930, the link between asbestos and malignant mesothelioma emerged more slowly. Although it was common knowledge among workers and managers that an unusually high number of asbestos plant employees were dying of lung cancer, a clear cause was hard to prove. Lung cancer had other causes than those asbestos was attributed with, and the use of tobacco was on a rapid increase during this time period. Further, tuberculosis was widespread during this time, and unless an autopsy was done, there was no way to know whether a person died of a cancerous growth in the mesothelium or from some other lung ailment.
One final difficult fact to prove came from the lag between asbestos exposure and the onset of mesothelioma symptoms. This time lapse could be as long as 60 years, and many people were diagnosed with mesothelioma long after they had worked with asbestos. But even with these difficulties of proof, a number of studies appeared in the British medical journals throughout the 1930's suggesting an association between asbestos and lung cancer.
The major breakthrough concerning mesothelioma came after World War II in South Africa. The asbestos mines in South Africa were very busy after the war. Three researchers found a stunning link between mesothelioma and asbestos exposure. They presented this work in 1959 at a research seminar in South Africa. In 1960, a study was funded by the South African asbestos industry and the South African cancer society.
However, when the initial results were released in February 1962, the asbestos industry started the cover-up in earnest. The study found that a very high number of cases of mesothelioma had been discovered in the population that lived and worked around the asbestos mines. It became very clear that if word of this report leaked out, it would destroy the asbestos industry. So rather than protect workers, the asbestos companies did the opposite. After the initial report, all funding for the study ceased, and the results were not released to the public. Extensive political pressure was placed on the researchers. In fact, the main researcher left South Africa due to the pressure and never to returned to mesothelioma research.
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