Asbestos – an inexpensive, heat-resistant mineral – was as soon as used extensively in constructing supplies all world wide. At this time, it’s banned in 70 international locations which have deemed that this building materials is a “silent killer” since its fibres are carcinogenic.
Whereas there are six forms of asbestos, chrysotile – white asbestos – is the commonest kind, used particularly in roofing homes.
In line with the World Well being Group, all forms of asbestos trigger “lung most cancers, mesothelioma, most cancers of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis [fibrosis of the lungs]”.
Publicity to the fibres and dealing with or inhaling them may additionally end in demise.
But some international locations like India proceed buying and selling it.
In 2011, India banned asbestos mining and asbestos waste utilized in ships. Nevertheless it continues to commerce in uncooked asbestos and asbestos-based merchandise, generally discovered within the roofs of homes, particularly in poorer areas of the nation.
In line with a November 2021 report by the Indian authorities, between 2019 and 2020, India imported 361,164 tonnes of asbestos, a 1 p.c lower in contrast with 364,105 tonnes within the earlier 12 months.
The report famous that nearly the whole import was chrysotile asbestos, with 85 p.c of those fibres coming from Russia. About 3 p.c additionally got here from Brazil, Kazakhstan and Hungary every, and a pair of p.c got here from Poland and South Africa respectively.
Aaron Cosbey, a growth economist and head of Small World Sustainability, a consultancy, informed Al Jazeera that commerce goes on as a result of business pursuits have been prioritised over human welfare.
“India’s largest supply of chrysotile asbestos – Russia – has not banned it nationally. So there isn’t a hypocrisy; it’s simply unhealthy coverage, provided that the WHO and 70 states worldwide have agreed that there aren’t any secure makes use of for the substance,” he stated.
India additionally exports asbestos, however its gross sales have decreased considerably to 1,001 tonnes between 2019 and 2020, in contrast with 1,112 tonnes within the earlier 12 months.
The Indian authorities’s November 2021 report famous that many of the exports went to Bangladesh, and seven p.c to Sri Lanka.
Gopal Krishna, an environmental lawyer and co-founder of the Ban Asbestos Community of India, stated regardless of international locations like Brazil ruling that asbestos use was unconstitutional – and Hungary, Poland and South Africa banning asbestos – India continues with its import and export.
“The commerce continues as a result of no person in India has time to take care of well being complaints when cash is concerned and there’s a lewd relationship between the Indian authorities and the asbestos producers within the nation,” he informed Al Jazeera.
“A 2012 research (PDF) was carried out by the Nationwide Institute of Occupational Well being in Ahmedabad, India, surveying 1,248 staff uncovered to the substance. Noting that the fibres affected solely three staff, the research concluded that asbestos and its derivatives usually are not dangerous to human well being. However this research by a authorities physique was co-sponsored by the Asbestos Cement Merchandise Producers’ Affiliation, which lobbies for the business, making it a battle of curiosity,” he added.
Krishna stated the research contradicts the UN Rotterdam Conference, which was adopted in 2004 and critiques the dangerous results of a variety of chemical compounds and pesticides.
The conference has listed white chrysotile asbestos mineral fibres as part of its record of gear which have been banned or restricted due to their well being or environmental impression.
“The Indian authorities is conscious of the dangerous impacts of asbestos, however is closely influenced by the profit-inducing capability of the business. At the moment, Mansukh Mandaviya, the minister answerable for chemical compounds and fertilisers, can be the nation’s well being and household welfare minister.
“So he’s a promoter of buying and selling asbestos and likewise the guardian of public well being within the nation, magnifying that incestuous relationship between the asbestos business and politics in India,” Krishna stated.
On the time of publishing, Mandaviya had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for a response.
Asbestos commerce lobbies
On the worldwide stage, the landmark ruling in favour of banning the commerce of asbestos got here in 2001, when the World Commerce Group (WTO) supported a transfer by France to ban the substance.
The WTO had been known as on by Canada to look into whether or not France’s ban, which was introduced in 1997, was respectable.
The WTO’s Appellate physique – a seven-person committee that hears appeals – gave its verdict, saying that “harmful substances can’t be judged to be just like safer substances”.
“This ruling was closely protested by asbestos commerce lobbies in India who stated {that a} commerce organisation mustn’t get entangled in well being issues. Their place on the matter continues to be the identical with them additionally claiming that well being and environmental considerations about asbestos, raised by well being and atmosphere security our bodies, are distorted,” Krishna informed Al Jazeera.
“These enterprise enterprises don’t function on logic. They function on revenue,” he added.
The Indian asbestos foyer, which seeks to advertise using primarily chrysotile cement merchandise within the nation, has claimed that India is stricken by a chrysotile fibre phobia.
In a 2019 article purporting to bust myths, the foyer stated this was resulting from a lack of understanding in society concerning the distinction between amphibole asbestos and serpentine chrysotile.
The foyer cited WHO steering that the managed use of chrysotile asbestos wouldn’t trigger any well being hazards.
However a 2014 WHO report acknowledged that “essentially the most environment friendly strategy to eradicate asbestos-related illnesses is to cease utilizing all forms of asbestos”.
The Worldwide Chrysotile Affiliation (ICA) has additionally defended the asbestos business’s enterprise pursuits.
A month earlier than the tenth Convention of the UN Rotterdam Conference occurred in Geneva in June this 12 months, the affiliation stated in an announcement: “The relentless battle towards chrysotile over the course of quite a few conferences of the events for the reason that Conference was established has turned the Rotterdam Convention into an anti-asbestos convention.”
Using chrysotile fibres is according to the WHO and Worldwide Labour Group’s (ILO) coverage, the assertion added.
Extra public consciousness?
Krishna stated the utilization and buying and selling of asbestos started when Britain dominated India.
“India is a sufferer of the British legacy underneath which many of those firms have been arrange within the first place, even when the British knew its dangerous results,” he stated.
The British Medical Journal has been reporting on asbestos since 1924, he added, “so since then, the subcontinent has not been freed from asbestos, particularly in constructing supplies”.
The UK totally banned asbestos in 1999.
To this point, the Indian authorities has phased out using asbestos within the railway sector by making greater than 7,000 railway stations asbestos-free. New Delhi has additionally issued a working circumstances code for firms concerned in dealing with the substance.
However the authorities’s November 2021 commerce report famous that commerce will proceed.
Krishna, intent on his mission, says campaigning can be key in pushing demand down.
“Folks have to be educated about it in colleges, in order that they perceive how the business works and what the well being hazards are,” he stated. “Solely then will they be capable to decide concerning the substance, which may not directly affect the demand and provide of asbestos.”