According to one industry group India has become known as a hotspot for asbestos exposure because of the industrial activity that takes place there. A report was recently released by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS).
The major problems area in the country when it comes to asbestos has been dubbed as Gujarat . There are many factories in the country that undertake high risk activities such as ship breaking and manufacturing. Exposure to asbestos can cause health problems that include a form of cancer known as mesothelioma.
There is further concern because the number of asbestos related deaths in the country are growing, yet there is no compensation available for those that contract asbestos related diseases from exposure to this potentially deadly substance.
The former minister and environmental activist, Maneka Gandhi, said that a proper campaign against asbestos needs to be launched in India . He said: “Our entire policy on asbestos needs to be changed. We must stop being the junkyard of the world.”
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4 users commented in " India Is Asbestos Hotspot "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThere is not a single house, public or private building which can be deemed to be asbestos free. U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has fined a firm $48,100 in November,2008 for lack of asbestos monitoring that exposed live electrical wires and unlabeled containers of hazardous chemicals, among other citations.”
One has never heard of any asbestos company being fined for such charges in India. While asbestos might not be beyond monitoring, Indian asbestos companies are so powerful that no government institution dares to monitor them. In fact they compete with each other to public relations work for these companies so that no one can pose any public health document or study or observation to jeopardize brutal quest of their profit at any human cost.
In the US, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Environmental Protection Agency work in tandem despite that 10, 000 people are dying of asbestos diseases there but in India, the relevant agencies National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are defunct Both the Indian agencies have adopted an Ostrich Policy and sought refuge in a make believe world wherein they work overtime to ensure that there is no documentation of asbestos diseases in India.
Sonia Gandhi, the de facto ruler of India is a supporter of asbestos industry. She is the Chairperson of ruling Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). Shunned by the world, asbestos makes Sonia Gandhi’s turf its new home. Hyderabad asbestos major Visaka Industries, run by Congress leader G Venkataswamy’s family has opened asbestos cement plant in Rae Bareli signalling patronage the asbestos industry enjoys at the highest political level. Acting on a brief from her at the 4th Conference of Parties of the UN’s Rotterdam Convention in Rome, India obstructed putting chrysotile asbestos in the prior informed consent (pic) list, exploiting the consensus process of the convention. The consensus process ensured that voices of developing countries were heard. On chrysotile asbestos India took refuge in the discredited study of nioh. India argued that “till the time the nioh study is completed, which will be in next two years (2010), we will not be in position to take a decision on listing of chrysotile.” Information sought under the Right to Information Act, 2005 revealed the hypocrisy and vested interests behind the study. This supposedly scientific study was being part-sponsored, reviewed and vetted by those who stood to gain or lose from it. Nine independent scientists, who reviewed the interim reports and draft of the study, termed it fundamentally flawed in its design, methodology and execution.
The asbestos used in rural India is mainly for roofing replacing the clay tiles and the grass. Thus the poor are being forced into the cancer trap. It is high time that the government takes stringent actin against the asbestos industry.
Hello.I saw this doccumentary about Canada’s sickening involment re: asbestos It’s called
“Canada’s Ugly Secret” Many of us were shocked to find this out.
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/healtheducation/canadas_ugly_secret.html
As a Canadian citizen I am ashamed of our record on Asbestos. They still refuse to ban the sale of it.we subsidize it’s production.
India buys 50% of our exported asbestos..plus the Conservative gov has obstructed the Rotterdam convention.
We are spending millions to remove it from the Parliament Buildings and from schools and homes across Canada.
Here is link to a group that is working on this issue here in Canada. http://www.rightoncanada.ca/?cat=11
I am looking to work here in Quebec on the issue.
Thanks
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