Letter from the Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers' Association on the issue of Asbestos Roofing in schools published in The New Indian Express on 20/08/04 will have the policymakers and citizens believe that a fiber which causes 30 deaths every day is safe to use. This is one of the biggest lies one can hear from the asbestos manufacturers. Over 36 countries besides World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have termed chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos)as cancer causing.

The statement urging is the state government to Stop Using Asbestos Roofing is based on enormous medical scientific evidence both globally as well as nationally. In reality manufacturers have mastered the art of confusing the policy makers and the general public with their flawed logic of mythical controlled use.

Also the Union Ministry of Health has informed the parliament on 18 August, 2003 that studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad, have shown that exposure to any type of asbestos can lead to the development of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, manufactures are misinforming the media that asbestos does not cause lung cancer and other diseases.

As per the survey of U.P. Asbestos Limited, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow and Allied Nippn Pvt Ltd, Gaziabad, (U.P), the lung function impairment was found to be higher in subjects exposed for more than 11 years. This was the result of a Central Pollution Control Board sponsored project entitled " Human risk assessment studies in asbestos industries in India". This has been reported in the (2001-2002) Annual Report of Industrial Toxicological Research Centre, Lucknow.

According to U S Environment Protection Agency (USEPA), “The presence of asbestos in high-activity public buildings such as schools presents the opportunity for inadvertent disturbance and potential for exposure. Frequency of use can also lead to frequent repairs which present exposure potential if not properly managed.”

If friable asbestos and fibers are released into the air, there is a potential health risk because persons breathing the air may breathe in asbestos fibers. Continued exposure can increase the amount of fibers that remain in the lung, says USEPA.

Manufacturers' contention that only Blue asbestos, which is banned in India, is the causative factor for asbestos related diseases is completely flawed as can be seen from WHO's Environment Health Criteria and also from WTO's judgment in the European Communities vs Canada case after France banned import of white asbestos from Canada.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH CRITERIA 203 of WHO says, “Exposure to chrysotile asbestos poses increased risks for asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma in a dose-dependent manner. No threshold has been identified for carcinogenic risks.”

Mining of all kinds of asbestos is banned in India. Most of the asbestos used in India comes from Quebec, Canada, which has a No Home Use Policy. On July 19, 2004, a report entitled The Epidemiology of Asbestos-Related Diseases in Quebec appeared on the website of the National Institute of Public Health in Quebec. The seventy-three-page document explodes the asbestos industry's assertions that Canadian chrysotile is safe.

Ban Asbestos Canada (BAC), a non-profit organization of asbestos victims and their families, scientists, academics, activists and concerned citizens dedicated to banning all types of asbestos world-wide has called for the Canadian government to end its global promotion of this deadly industry, to implement a total ban on asbestos, and to provide a just transition for those working in the asbestos industry and their families.

Countries such as Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, European Union, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Australia, Japan, Uruguay, Honduras and South Africa have banned it taking note of the cancer causing nature of asbestos. How come something so evidently poisonous becomes non-poisonous the moment it enters the Indian territory?

In such a scenario the statement made by Toxics Link to safeguard the health of the school children is based on scientific or medical evidence. The use of asbestos in any form is unsafe for the general public and the environment.

The use of asbestos roof in the schools of Tamil Nadu is going to have disastrous consequences for heath. The state government ought to be wary of these manufacturers which are helping the Canadian asbestos industry at the risk of Indian citizens health in their naked lust for profit.

Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), a civil society alliance campaigning to get import, manufacture and use of white asbestos banned in India, condemns the misinformation campaign of the asbestos manufacturers and appeals to the Indian government to end its promotion of asbestos and encourage its substitutes in interest of public health.