The Hindu : New Delhi News : Ban on asbestos demanded

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 06, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Ban on asbestos demanded

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JUNE 5. Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) has demanded an immediate ban on white asbestos in the country. The group is demanding that a judicial ruling or executive order be brought in prohibiting use of white asbestos as it is known to cause lung cancer.

The group has also requested that an effort be made to substitute an estimated 3,000 asbestos products with available alternatives such as PVA and steel.

According to the group, construction workers, students, teachers and doctors remain oblivious to the dangers of the product.

"There are 3 crore construction workers in India and 8 lakhs in Delhi, almost all of whom are constantly exposed to the danger of asbestos poisoning.

We are asking if the Supreme Court could ask for a report on the status of implementation of its order on asbestos and seek its replacement in keeping with WTO's judgement upholding the ban on white asbestos in various developed countries,'' say environmentalists. BANI is asking not only the Government to take action but also people to make an effort to work towards living in an asbestos-free environment.

"All over India human and animal habitation is riddled with asbestos and poses a serious health threat. The residents' welfare associations in cities and village heads in villages should boycott asbestos products and write to the officials concerned to have the asbestos removed for public safety,'' it said.

According to a study conducted by the Institute of Public Health Engineering (IPHE), an estimated two million workers in the United States will die from workplace exposure to asbestos, though the standards for manufacture there are 20 times more stringent than in countries such as India.

The group has also appealed to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to initiate an action plan to make the country asbestos-free. "It needs to come clean on the issue taking note of global ban on all forms of asbestos underway so that the public boycotts asbestos-containing products and the law enforcement agencies follow the spirit of the apex court order for imposing a ban on white asbestos since all the other forms are already banned,'' it said.

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