Asbestos Related Mesothelioma in India
Canadian Exports of Chrysotile to the Sub-Continent Must be Banned
Jan 23, 2009
The above statement was made as far back as 2005 by the United Nations Environment Programme and is only one of many similar authorative reports. It raises the question then, why in 2009 is Chrysotile asbestos still being produced and exported to developing countries like India where it destroys the lives of the most vulnerable people?
Mesothelioma
Indian politician and environmental campaigner Maneks Gandhi, motivated by a rise in cases of Mesothelioma, demanded that a campaign against asbestos needed to be launched in India. She said: “Our entire policy on asbestos needs to be changed. We must stop being the junkyard of the world.”
There are no reliable statistics, or compensation, for Mesothelioma or other asbestos related illness in Indian workers.
Asbestos Exposure
India’s use of asbestos has more than doubled in the past 30 years. Thanks to greatly increased industrial activity it is the largest importer of Russian and Canadian asbestos.
The Hindu reported in October 2008 that the Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) has accused the Russian, Canadian and Indian governments of: "Turning a blind eye towards the poisonous atmosphere around the asbestos factories and the danger it poses to the health and life of citizens.”
There are three main types of asbestos:
- Crocidolite (blue asbestos)
- Amosite (brown asbestos)
- Chrysolite (white asbestos)
Both blue and brown are banned in India but white (Chrysotile) is widely used.
In the November of 2008, the website PR Canada, while commenting on the work of BANI, reminded people that the Canadian government had still to respond to the Rotterdam Convention (a treaty governing trade in substances that harm human health and the environment). The Convention has not included Chrysotile asbestos in its list of banned substances.
Canadian Asbestos Exports
According to PR Canada, Canadian produced Chrysotile asbestos accounts for around 95 percent of exported asbestos and of this about half goes to India most of which is turned into cement for the construction industry. These figures are confirmed in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).
A follow up meeting of the Convention held in Rome confirmed that Chrysotile asbestos would not be listed as a banned substance. Canada, Russia and India must take full responsibility for this lack of progress.
Chrysotile Institute
The Chrysotile Institute, a Canadian government financed body not unsurprisingly defends the use of the material and says that the banning of Chrysotile asbestos is inconsistent with current scientific evidence.
Furthermore the Institute argues that Chrysotile cement is an inexpensive and durable product, which can be used in various forms of construction. This may well be true in monetary terms but what about the human cost in India and other countries of the world that import the product? It must also be said that the Russian Chrysotile Association takes a similar position. The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) accuse both organisations of misinformation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that every year more than 100,000 people die from Chrysotile asbestos but the Institute robustly challenges this: “This alarmist figure is far from reality. The estimated number of deaths is connected to all types of asbestos.”
Asbestos Mortality
The CMAJ (October 2008) in a paper entitled Asbestos Mortality: a Canadian Export, said: “Canada was the only Western democracy to have consistently opposed international efforts to regulate the global trade in asbestos. And the government of Canada has done so with the shameful manipulation of science.”
It’s not a position that Canada should be proud of.
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