Press
Release
Move
to lift ban on asbestos mining by Ministry of Mines after Labor and Environment
Ministry’s announcement to ban asbestos condemned
Ministries
of Commerce, Finance & Rural Development should stop their patronage to
asbestos industry
New Delhi November 26, 2012:
Public health and environmental groups condemned the Union Ministry of Mines’ move
to lift ban on asbestos mining after Labor and Environment Ministry’s announcement
to ban asbestos. ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA) has written to the Union Minister of Mines urging him to desist
from causing public health disaster by lifting technical ban on asbestos mining.
The letter is attached.
It is quite sad that Union Minister of Mines, Dinsha
Patel in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha informed
the Parliament that they are about to lift the ban on mining of asbestos after the finalisation of guidelines for mining
leases of asbestos.
It is high time Union Minister of Mines, Dinsha
Patel
took note of the what Union Ministry of Labour revealed that that the
“Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in
India to protect the workers and the general population against primary and
secondary exposure to Chrysotile form of Asbestos" at page no. 28 of its
attached concept paper at the two-day 5th India-EU Joint Seminar on
“Occupational Safety and Health” during 19-20 September, 2011. The
paper is attached.
Union Minister of Mines should desist from
allowing asbestos mining in the light of what is stated at page no. 12 of the
Vision Statement on Environment and Health of Union Ministry of Environment
& Forests that reads: "Environmental epidemiological studies are
required to be carried out near to industrial estates and hazardous waste
disposal sites to estimate the extent of health risks including from asbestos.
Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos
may be phased out." The document
is attached is at available at http://moef.nic.in/divisions/
It is noteworthy that Rajasthan Government had withdrawn its
request for lifting of ban on asbestos mining. This exercise by Union Minister
of Mines appears to be influenced by the asbestos miners lobby from Andhra
Pradesh. At present there is a moratorium on grant/renewal of asbestos mines as
per a letter of Government of India dated July 9, 1986. Ban Asbestos Network of
India (BANI) had given both oral and written submission in response to invitation
from the Ministry of Mines. It had cited international and national precedents
to persuade the Ministry from succumbing to pressure from the asbestos miners
of Andhra Pradesh.
It
may be noted that the liability for asbestos related diseases remain a huge
issue in the entire developed world leading to bankruptcy of hundreds of
companies due to compensation money they have to pay to victims of asbestos
related deaths and ailments. Dow Chemicals Company has set up a asbestos
compensation fund of 2.2 BILLION US Dollars for the asbestos related liability
of Union Carbide Corporation which is now its subsidiary in the aftermath of
the Industrial Disaster of Bhopal.
Due to growing awareness about asbestos related incurable
occupational and non-occupational diseases caused by the exposure to its lung
cancer causing fibers, villagers of Marwan Block in Muzaffarpur, Bihar have
stopped the construction of a asbestos based cement plant. Following
unprecedented resistance of the villagers of Marwan Block, the Chief Minister’s
Secretariat ordered an inquiry into it in the backdrop of police firing and
lathi charge. The plant has been closed now. Bihar State Human Rights
Commission announced that the plant has been wound up. The villagers of
Vaishali, Bihar and Sambalpur, Odisha too have stopped asbestos based plants
from being set up.
It
is germane to note that Terms of Reference (TOR) that was awarded by the
Experts Appraisal Committee, Industrial Project, Union Ministry of Environment
& Forests to the project proponents for white asbestos based factories
state that they should prepare a “Health Management Plan for
Mesothelioma, Lung cancer and Asbestosis related problems in asbestos
industries.” Till date this has not been done. Union Ministry of Health
has informed the Parliament that exposure to asbestos causes incurable diseases
like Mesothelioma, Lung cancer and
Asbestosis.
Besides these, paragraph 14, 15 and 16 of the attached
Hon'ble Supreme Court's order dated January 21, 2012 to assess the response of
International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO's resolution of June 2006 which
is mentioned in the Hon'ble Court's order attached as well for ready
reference.
It
is relevant for mines ministry to recollect the sad legacy of
undivided Bihar, the unpardonable act of vanishing hazardous companies and the
asbestos mines in places like Roro Hills in Chaibasa, West Singhbhum. The death
toll and the disease burden that has emerged due to this abandoned asbestos
mine must be ascertained because it would provide valuable lessons in
preventive medicine. The Roro hills is infamous for an abandoned asbestos
mine. It is estimated that nearly 0.7 million tons of asbestos waste
mixed with chromite-bearing host rock lies scattered here and in 25 years no
study has been conducted to assess the fate of this hazardous waste dumped
improperly on top of Roro hills. The waste material extends several meters down
slope spreading into the paddy fields on the foothills of Roro. About 40
centimeters of thick silty waste of crushed rocks is spread over the paddy
fields and poisoning the local residents.
There
is a need for an official health survey of 14 villages around the Roro hills
and the former workers of the Roro asbestos mines by your ministry. There is a
link between the asbestos exposures and several adverse health effects such as
shortness of breath indicating respiratory ailments.
The
local newspaper clippings from Singbhumi Ekta, a weekly from Chaibasa,
published between January and August 1981, include a press release from the
late P. Mazumdar, the leader of the United Mine Workers Union, affiliated to
All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) states that 30 workers from Roro
mines had died of asbestosis. You may ascertain the fate of ex-workers from the
Roro mines from Roro and Tilaisud villages. The Roro mines were closed down in
1983 after Hyderabad Asbestos Cement Products Ltd. (now known as Hyderabad
Industries Limited) decided that they were no longer profitable even at the
cost of human health in general and workers health in particular.
These developments merit
the attention of Sudhanshu Pandey, Joint Secretary who is responsible for
Environment and Labour in the Union Ministry of Commerce as well because his
ministry is promoting asbestos trade from Russia, Canada, Brazil and other
asbestos producers.
The Union Ministry of Chemicals took the right step on June 21, 2011 when it
disassociated India from Canada and other asbestos producing countries in order
to get white asbestos listed in the UN list of hazardous materials. The Union Ministry of Railways is working to
make all railway platforms in India asbestos free. Although Union Ministry of Finance has
announced that asbestos related diseases will be covered under Rashtriya
Swasthya Bima Yojana (National Health Insurance Scheme) it is hardly sufficient
in the absence of environmental and occupational infrastructure. It is high
time P Chidrambaram, Union Finance Minister withdrew fiscal incentives given to
the asbestos industry since 1983 to discourage use of cancer causing asbestos based
products in favor of safe alternatives of asbestos fibers.
The patronage given to asbestos
industry from ministries of Commerce, Finance & Rural Development should be
stopped to save the public health of present and future generations by taking cognizance
of the considered views of ministries of Labour and Environment who favour ban
on the killer fibers of asbestos. It is
quite shocking that Union Rural Development Ministry has been providing deadly asbestos
roofs to the poor under Indira Awas Yojna unmindful of the violations of the
human rights of the poor. So far Ministry of Mines has been aligned with ministries
of labour and environment in its realization of incurable diseases caused by asbestos
fibers.
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA),
a research and advocacy group that works on the impact of hazardous industries
like asbestos industry urges Government of India to coordinate its own wisdom
available in ministries of labour and environment and announce the ban on
asbestos of all kinds the way more than 50 countries including Australia, Japan
and South Korea have done.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Convener, ToxicsWatch
Alliance (TWA), Mb: 9818089660, Email:krishna1715@gmail.com, Web:
toxicswatch.blogspot.com
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