More Pressure on India to Ban Harmful Asbestos Use

Mar 29, 2011
Laurie Chan

Asbestos Danger: Cancer and Lung Disease Hazard - Beige Alert

India continues to import harmful white asbestos (chrysotile), and Canada wants to keep supplying that market. Experts say the health risks are too great.

India is facing mounting pressure to ban the use of asbestos. The mineral fibre is still widely used in that country despite being banned in 52 other nations, including those in the European Union, because of known health risks . Recognized as a known carcinogen, asbestos is still widely used in developing nations in products such as cement, piping, and building materials. Most of the asbestos used worldwide is imported from Russia and Canada.

World Health Organization Says Stop the Use of Asbestos

The WHO estimates that about 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos at the workplace, and that over 107,000 people die each year from asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis due to occupational exposure. In collaboration with other agencies, the WHO works with countries to eliminate asbestos-related diseases. It recognizes that the most efficient means of doing so is to stop the use of all types of asbestos.

Proposed Bihar Asbestos Roofing Plants Under Scrutiny

In India, international and domestic groups opposed to asbestos have succeeded in focusing attention on the serious public health risks associated with proposed new asbestos roofing plants in the poverty-stricken northern Indian state of Bihar. As a result of increasing publicity and calls for intervention, India’s Environment Ministry is now involved in discussions with state leaders.

Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), formed in 2002, is one of the groups actively engaged in lobbying against new asbestos plants. It is a representative organization for concerned health, environment, and labour activists who are seeking an overall ban on asbestos use in India and on the import of chrysotile (white asbestos) into that country.

Health Experts Endorse New Delhi Declaration Seeking Elimination of Chrysotile (White) Asbestos

Recently, a group of doctors and scientists endorsed a document entitled the New Delhi Declaration Seeking Elimination of all Forms of Asbestos including Chrysotile from India. The Declaration was adopted on March 24, 2011 following a Round Table meeting organized by BANI. This meeting followed an International Conference on "Emerging Trends in Preventing Occupational Respiratory Diseases and Cancers in the Workplace".

In its text, the Declaration refers to a number of recognized resolutions, rulings, and movements that support its objective:

· Ban Asbestos Resolution of 2002

· World Health Organization (WHO) Resolution of 2005

· International Labour Organization (ILO) Resolution of 2006

· White Asbestos (Ban on Use and Import) Bill, 2009, introduced in Parliament

· Order of Kerala State Human Rights Commission banning asbestos use in schools

· Anti-asbestos people’s movement again proposed asbestos plants in state of Bihar

The Declaration endorses the objects and reasons of the White Asbestos Bill 2009, which is currently before the Upper House of the Indian Parliament. This Bill would create legislation banning the use and import of white asbestos, known also as chrysotile. The following are excerpts from the Bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons:

“white asbestos is highly carcinogenic…even the World Health Organization has reported that it causes cancer…More than fifty countries have already banned the use and import of white asbestos. Even the countries that export it to India prefer not to use it domestically…It is quite surprising that our country is openly importing huge quantity of a product, which causes cancer…there is an urgent need for a total ban on the import and use of white asbestos and promote the use of alternative material.”

No Asbestos Ban from Supreme Court of India - Waiting for Necessary Law

Cognizant of this Bill, the Supreme Court of India recently dismissed a Petition filed in 2004 from an Indian-based NGO seeking a ban on all uses of asbestos. The Bill confirms for the Court that the legislature “has taken steps in the direction of enacting necessary law” and that any further direction from the Court regarding the banning of asbestos would therefore be unjustified.

The Court judged the Petition against existing Indian laws, stating:

"What has to be ensured is that proper precautions are taken. What is required is better supervision and regulatory control rather than banning of the activity. It is not for the Court to legislate and ban an activity under relevant Laws."

The Environment Protection Act 1986, according to the Court, already allows concerned authorities, in issuing the required environmental clearances, to ensure that appropriate and protective steps are taken by the industry.

Supreme Court of India Has Already Accepted Adverse Effects of Asbestos

In acknowledging the dangers of asbestos, the Supreme Court stated that, “…there can be no doubt that uncontrolled utilization of asbestos, in any form, can be hazardous to human health.”

Referring to an earlier 1995 judgment that outlined strict guidelines for asbestos use, the Court stated that it had already “accepted the well established adverse effects of asbestos including the risk beyond the work place…”.

Canada Asked to Stop Export of Deadly Asbestos

In February 2011, representatives of trade unions, health and safety groups, and environmental groups in New Delhi challenged a visiting government-led trade delegation from Quebec, Canada to stop exporting deadly asbestos to Asia, and to not support the re-opening of an asbestos mine in that province.

India buys most of its asbestos from Quebec, one of the world’s largest exporters of the mineral. Canada restricts its own use of asbestos products, and many organizations world-wide have questioned the morality of Canadian and Quebec government and business leaders who continue to promote asbestos as a safe product for export markets such as India.

Making Governments and Corporations Accountable for Asbestos Harm

Professor Annie Thebaud-Mony, occupational cancer expert and Director of Research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, France, visited India in March 2011 to meet with asbestos-related disease victims and anti-asbestos activists. She supports a global ban on asbestos, and the creation of an International Criminal Court for Labour and the Environment that would make corporations and government accountable for harm caused by asbestos use.