Unions call on Canada to stop dumping asbestos in Asia

The campaign to ban asbestos use in Asia took a step forward at a Building and Wood Workers’ International regional conference in Jakarta on August 2 to 4, 2010. The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union represented the IMF at the meeting.

ASIA: The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) South East Asia Regional Conference on Ban Asbestos Campaign has called on the Canadian government to stop exporting white asbestos to Asia. The Quebec government is preparing to give a loan guarantee to allow the opening of the new Jeffery underground mine which plans to export 200,000 tonnes of asbestos a year to developing countries for the next 25 to 50 years.

The IMF was represented by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union at the Regional Conference where BWI unions from the South East Asia region committed to country action plans in the campaign to ban the use of asbestos in the region. As the industrialized countries have banned asbestos use, the Canadian and Russian asbestos industries have aggressively marketed their deadly product to countries like India, Thailand and Indonesia.

To assist BWI affiliates in developing their action plans, the conference heard from Fiona Murie, Director BWI Global OHS program, Sugio Furuya Ban Asbestos Network Japan, Yeyong Choi, Ban Asbestos Network South Korea and Prof Le Van Trinh, Director of NILP from Vietnam. Fiona encouraged affiliates to use the joint ILO and WHO Outline for the Development of National Programs for the Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases.

The ILO and WHO Outline clearly identifies the steps that governments and workplaces need to take to eliminate asbestos related diseases; to prevent further exposures and how to manage people who have already been exposed.

The AMWU reported on its rocky road for the banning of asbestos, the successful James Hardie campaign and measures that have to be taken in Australian workplaces to manage the legacy of the use of asbestos contamination in homes, workplaces and unfortunately the environment from poor waste management.

All the Conference presentations endorsed the ILO/WHO statement that: “there is no evidence of a threshold for the carcinogenic effect of both chrysotile and amphibole forms of asbestos and that increased cancer risks have been observed in populations exposed to very low levels, the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos-related diseases is to stop using all types of asbestos.” Aug 12, 2010 – Anita Gardner, IMF News