Ban Asbestos Network of India Condemns Indian Government's Double Speak on Asbestos

Ban Asbestos Network of India Condemns Indian Government's Double Speak on Asbestos

Just ended is a meeting of the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent - which seeks to allow countries to be fully informed about the consequences of allowing the importation of certain hazardous chemicals and to prevent such importation if they so decide. This year the consequences of Canada and Russia continuing to export asbestos and dump it in the South was a matter of key concern. As you will see from the press release below, shamelessly India and Zimbabwe (themselves producers of asbstos) but also Colombia and - astonishingly - South Africa objected to the Convention being extended to cover bans on the world's most dangerous construction material.

Since the biggest use of asbestos today is in cement manufacture, one wonders whether the cement industry has been pulling any strings behind the scenes? Cemex and Holcim (respectively the third and fourth biggest global cement manfactuers) were also recently cited as being instrumemtal in framing Colombia's new legislation to privatise the country's mining industry.