Asbestos, the Time Bomb: Breathtaking Negligence!
o Asbestos is the Legacy of the Evil. It’s a silent killer in that its effects are both gradual and not easily noticeable. But asbestos poisoning reaches everyone from the person mining it to the ultimate consumer of products containing asbestos.. A succession of governments from 1947 to 2002 bear the greatest responsibility for failing to adopt and enforce measures which could have protected workers from the dangers of asbestos
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o World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorically said, “there is practically no safe level of exposure or use of asbestos against cancer”. The WHO, acting through the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has recognised that all varieties of asbestos are carcinogenic, causing both lung cancer and mesothelioma or cancer of the lung lining
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o Asbestos is a generic term used for several naturally occurring fibrous, silicate materials and is used in a variety of everyday as well as industrial applications. Roughly 95 per cent of mined asbestos is used to manufacture asbestos-cement products. There are six varieties of asbestos; all of them tend to break into microscopic fibres

o Mesothelioma and asbestosis caused from asbestos currently kill more people than any other single work-related illness. Diseases like asbestosis have no cure. Worse, once the exposure has taken place, merely removing the victim from the site does not limit or arrest the progress of the disease nor the risk of cancer

o The threat from inhalation of asbestos fibre was known as far back as 1924. But this fact was not disclosed to workers involved in the asbestos industry. Chrysotile asbestos, one of the six types of asbestos is classified in Europe as a category 1 carcinogen (the severest kind). White asbestos or chrysotile asbestos fibre constitutes about 95 per cent of the world production and commercial use of asbestos

o In India, 1,25,000 tonnes of chrysotile white asbestos are used annually to manufacture asbestos cement products. Most of this is imported from Canada, Russia, Brazil, Zimbabwe with some quantity being mined in Bihar and Andhra Pradesh which is used by the small scale sector

o The British Journal of Cancer, UK statistics show an overall increase in mesothelioma deaths of nearly 300% in twenty years: from 393 in 1978 to 1527 in 1998. Low-dose exposure to asbestos at home or in the general environment carries a measurable risk of malignant pleural mesothelioma.metal plate workers, and vehicle body builders (including rail vehicles); both of these occupations had rates over six times the average. Plumbers and gas fitters had a rate over four times the average and carpenters had a rate over three times the average." Other trades showing elevated proportional mortality rates were: electricians, construction workers, managers in construction, plasterers, builders and handymen, steel erectors, painters and decorators and scaffolders
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o Even World Bank is averse to funding asbestos projects since 1991. There is an epidemiological consensus: the incidence of mesothelioma is increasing and will continue to do for the foreseeable future.
o People exposed to asbestos can reduce the risks to their health by giving up smoking
o WHO recommends: prohibition of asbestos production and use, minimization of fiber inhalation, proper disposal of waste, adoption of safe working procedures, labelling of asbestos-containing products, education and training of vulnerable workers
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o Every year asbestos is claiming 100, 000 workers are dying due to asbestos related cancers, says International Labour Organsiation (ILO)
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o Indian Association of Occupational Health (IAOH) in April 2002 passed a resolution seeking ban on all forms of asbestos
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o Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), Collegium Ramazzini, Italy, an international academic society examining issues of occupational and environmental health, International Commission on Occupational Health has called for immediate ban on asbestos