Upcoming Events

World Congress on Safety and Health at Work: Seoul, Korea, June 29- July 2, 2008
Summer Course at the University of Cantabria - Asbestos: A Silenced Epidemic July 2008
Asbestos Use in Asia, Chinese -- Book Launch, July 7, 2008, Kowloon
Critical Issues in Monitoring Asbestos – July 14-18, 2008
International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) Conference, Holland – September 25-27, 2008
Asbestos Workshop in Chania, Greece – October 1-3, 2008


There is increasing international attention to the dangers of asbestos in the work-place. Following closely on the heels of an extraordinarily sucessful asbestos conference just concluded in Brazil comes the world's largest international meeting on occupational safety and health which will have a significant asbestos focus. The World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, which will take place in Seoul, Korea from June 29-July 2, 2008, seeks the prevention of occupational diseases and industrial accidents through the exchange of information, knowledge and experiences on new technologies related to safety at work, on preventing occupational diseases, and on safety and health cooperative projects. The conference is organized by the International Labor Organization, the International Social Security Association and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. There will be three asbestos workshops:

1) Asbestos – A Global Disaster, sponsored by the International Social Security Association. For more info, contact kbartels@bgchemie.de

2) ILO and WHO Action Towards the Elimination of Asbestos-Related DiseasesFor more info, contact fedotov@ilo.org

3) Asbestos: International Trade Union Campaign on Eliminating Asbestos Use and Preventing Asbestos Diseases. For more info, contact fiona.murie@bwint.org

See the website for more information on the conference.

We hope to report on results and provide access to the papers and presentations when they become available.

Summer Course at the University of Cantabria -- Asbestos: A Silenced Epidemic

From 7 to 11th July 2008, we have organised in Santander, Spain, a course about the impact of asbestos in Spain.
The course is addressed to asbestos workers, victims, trade union members and prevention delegates, employers, doctors and scientists, lawyers, judges and prosecutors, students and everyone interested on this issue.
Goals of de course:

  • Break the silence around a cancer epidemic and asbestos-related illnesses
  • Evaluate the situation in the light of the scientific knowledge
  • Analyse the political, legal and social responsabilities of this epidemic
  • Put the asbestos problem in the social, political, legal and mediatic field
  • Elaborate action proposals about health surveillance, about installed asbestos and about the social and economic support to asbestos victims.

We are sending enclosed the programme with more information about contents, speakers and general aspects.
Language: Only Spanish | Obejectivos del Curso

Critical Issues in Monitoring Asbestos

From July 14-18, 2008 a range of issues will be discussed at the ASTM Johnson Conference in Burlington, Vermont. The event will focus on:

  • Regulation vs. risk assessment
  • The analysis of asbestos in soils
  • Devising conventions for distinguishing asbestos fibers from cleavage fragments
  • Quality assurance and monitoring applications

For more information see: http://www.astm.org/MEETINGS/COMMIT/d22conf.htm

International Mesothelioma Interest Group (IMIG) Conference, Holland

The 2008 IMIG Conference will take place from September 25-27 at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam. The Dutch organizers of the 9th IMIG Conference hope that this international gathering will continue IMIG's tradition of providing mesothelioma researchers the opportunity to consider recent discoveries on the genetics, epidemiology, biology, pathology and clinical treatment of mesothelioma. Within the auspices of the IMIG event, a joint meeting with the European Association on Cardio-Thoracic Surgery will be held.

For more information, please see: http://imig-online.com/

Asbestos Workshop in Chania, Greece

During October 1-3, 2008 a Workshop on Asbestos Management will be one of many sessions within the proceedings of the Hazardous Waste Management Conference; this international event is being organized by a consortium of educational institutions from Greece, Italy and Germany in collaboration with the International Waste Working Group, a European think tank working on waste issues.

More information is available at the website: http://www.hwm1.tuc.gr/