Footnotes

• Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

• Competing interests Although currently retired, PAH testified in the past in medicolegal cases alleging asbestos-related injury. PAH testified on behalf of those manufacturing or selling automotive friction products containing asbestos, or using those products in their manufactured goods.

• Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.