Examining the Asbestos Issue from an Evidence Based Approach

One of the fundamental principles where public health practice, public health policy, assurance, evaluation, and epidemiology intersect in concrete agreement is the use of the best available evidence to make, set, and revise health related policy. Where the preponderance of evidence is unequivocal, converges from multiple sources, and is sourced from the highest of the hierarchal ladder then it is expected to be accepted as the best available evidence. In the asbestos “debate” the preponderance of evidence satisfies the criteria of 1) convergence of multiple data sources, 2) meets the apex of the pyramid of hierarchal data, and 3) is from respected non-biased sources. However, recently several sources of evidence have been introduced into the body of literature, policy decision making process, and international debate that are of suspect origins. It is imperative to examine this information in light of the known medical, scientific, and public health evidence in order to place it in proper perspective and understand the impact that it has had in the global and therefore local public health policy decision making process.