View article

In Asbestos blues, Jock McCulloch has produced the first published account of asbestos-mining in South Africa since Hall's geological survey of Asbestos in the Union of South Africa in 1930. Asbestos blues is a political economy analysis of the roles played by mining companies, the state, and medical experts in understanding and mining asbestos. It is based primarily on archival research and complemented by interviews and life histories.

Asbestos-related diseases became an international concern in the 1930s: British asbestos companies mining in South Africa had noticed their first deaths; manufacturers shared information across geographical and political boundaries; and prominent medical journals reviewed current research. None the less, McCulloch shows that without environmental lobbies and consumer groups to petition for people's rights, governments took little interest in occupational health. Most …