Asbestos: it cements the government
the Government of India is preparing a report to show the hazard to workers' health from white asbestos is manageable. This came out in a response of the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers to a Right To Information application by Madhumita Dutta of the Corporate Accountability Desk, an ngo in Chennai. Over 40 countries have banned all uses of white asbestos, also called chrysotile, owing to the unmanageable occupational health risks.
The mineral accounts for 94 per cent of the global trade in asbestos and is used as binding fibre in cement, fire retardants and automobile brake lining, among other things. The World Health Organization says it is a human carcinogen, killing at least 90,000 people every year of asbestos-related diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. An occupational health group estimates asbestos kills one person every five minutes, more than any other industrial toxin. Cheap, safe alternatives to chrysotile, like cellulose fibres, are readily available but the asbestos industry has thwarted the switch.
The Indian government has traditionally preferred the interests of the asbestos cement industry, consistently ignoring evidence of its harms. The report will enable the Indian government to go to Rome in October 2008 and argue in favour of unrestricted trade of white asbestos under the Rotterdam Convention. India along with Canada and Russia is seen as the dirtiest player in the international negotiations to bring white asbestos in the