Still killing millions by asbestos: global leadership and the urgent roadmap for actions.

Asbestos use has been banned in ~ 70 countries due to its health and environmental implications, even though for decades, evidence of its use in causing mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis has been firmly established. The lack of international governance in dealing with asbestos is complicated by global climatic changes, causing disasters that are dislodging existing asbestos; regional conflicts, which vaporizing asbestos without warning; the fact that the general public does not know how to identify materials containing asbestos, which makes them more vulnerable; and finally, emerging mechanisms for releasing existing asbestos, which are not governed by industrial mechanisms, making the situation worse. This paper, therefore, argues that international leadership, legislative mechanisms, and public education are not optional, but the bare minimum that must be done to stop the use of asbestos and the deaths that result from its use once and for all.