National Labour
Institute journal publishes paper seeks “elimination of use of all kinds of asbestos as per the
recommendations of the Court, ILO and WHO”
“If preventable diseases and deaths are not prevented, the
regulators and manufacturers of asbestos based products must face criminal
liability”, said Dr Gopal Krishna, Editor, ToxicsWatch and convener, Ban
Asbestos Network of India (BANI) while delivering a speech at the 3rd International
Conference on Occupational and Environmental Health (ICOEH 2016) in at National
Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIHFW), Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare, Govt. of India, New Delhi. Drawing lessons from the ongoing
industrial disaster of Bhopal caused by Union Carbide Corporation, he argued
that the public health disaster being caused by asbestos based industries shows
that no lessons have been learnt from the industrial disaster which happened 32
years ago and which continues to be an ongoing disaster. Like hazardous
chemicals, asbestos is a threat to life throughout its life cycle.
He was speaking
at the Scientific Session III “Elimination of Asbestos Related Diseases in
India” which was co-chaired by Dr. U Datta, Dean, NIHFW and Dr. Geeta
Pardeshi, Associate Professor,
Vardhaman Mahavir Mdical College (VMMC).
The abstract of Krishna’s paper titled “Status of
enviro-occupational health of
workers in hazardous industries: An inquiry into asbestos industry” has been published in the Souvenir of the ICOEH.
“This paper examines the hazards which workers face in the in the asbestos
based industries. The paper examines the implications of routine admission by
the industry that asbestos fibers which are used in their plants as a raw
material is hazardous in nature and the “industry will give information to the
workers on hazards associated with asbestos" given the fact that asbestos
factory's "Construction site has a potential hazardous environment."
The paper will evaluate the regulatory mechanisms in place to deal with the
deleterious effect of exposure to asbestos fibers and the role of the asbestos
products manufacturers. The paper reviews the submission to National Human
Rights Commission by Maharashtra government and inconsistencies that get
revealed from the documents of state’s Directorate of Industrial Safety &
Health (DISH) in the matter of death and diseases of workers who worked in
asbestos based factories and on plots of ship breakers.”
“It examines the studies conducted by National Institute of Occupational
Health, Ahmedabad on health hazards resulting from asbestos industry and
shipbreaking industry.”
“The paper examines the status of asbestos factories in Bhojpur, Bihar. The
occupational health status of 78 workers currently working in the asbestos
based factrory in Bihiya, Bhojpur is dealt with reference to the death of a
worker in the factory. The paper documents the reaction of the government and
the company to the death of the worker in question. It reviews the role of
State Government, Patna High Court, Bihar State Assembly, Bihar Human Rights
Commission, Bihar State Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control
Board and National Human Rights Commission in the matter of asbestos based
factories in the state. The paper reviews the decision of the Government of
India to stop “grant any new mining lease for asbestos (including Chrysotile
variety) in the country" keeping in mind the ‘deleterious effect of
asbestos mining on health of the workers’. It examines its rationale of
promoting trade, manufacturing and use of asbestos fibers in India.”
“The paper draws on lessons from the industrial disaster of 1984. This
disaster demonstrated that what happens to workers happens to communities and
environment. The life cycle assessment of hazardous industries and products has
unequivocally established the adverse health impact on workers and consumers.
Workers and the communities in the vicinity are a community of fate. The
link between occupational exposures and non-exposures isn’t quite distant. The
paper underlines how lack of documentation and lack of occupational health
infrastructure does not mean lack of victims of asbestos related diseases.”
“It infers that there is a need for adopting measures consistent with
global scientific and medical findings to safeguard workers from asbestos
related incurable diseases caused due to occupational exposures and
non-occupational exposures of their families. It builds a case for intervention
aimed at saving workers’ health and life from dirty, degrading and dangerous
working and living conditions.” The abstract of the paper is available at
page no, 74 of the Souvenir published by ICOEH. ICOEH was co-organised by Department
of Community Medicine, Vardhaman Mahavir Mdical College & Safdarjung
Hospital, New Delhi, National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW),
New Delhi in partnership with Occupational Health and Safety Management
Consultancy Services (OHS-MC) and in collaboration with Indian Public Health
Association, St. Stephen's Hospital, Delhi, Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences & Research
(HIMSR), New Delhi, Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine,
Community Medicine Department, PDU Govt. Medical College, Rajkot Gujarat, Indian Association for Adolescent Health, Dept of
Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, Advanced Research
Publications, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh and Center for
Inquiry, Washington, DC, USA.
The Souvenir was released by Dr. Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health
Services, Government of India along with Dr Barry Kistnasamy, Occupational
Health/Compensation Commissioner, South Africa, Dr. Jugal Kishore Chairman,
Scientific Committee, ICOEH, Prof Dr J K Das and Dr Ashish Mittal.
Commenting on the presentation
regarding Asbestos related diseases (ARDs), Dr. Geeta Pardeshi said, “As many
cases remain undiagnosed and are not notified what is known is just tip of the
iceberg- the rest represents the submerged portion of the iceberg. On one hand
there is also an increasing trend of ARDs and on the other hand we have
elimination of ARDs as a goal to be achieved. This means we have to change the
direction as well as the magnitude of the curve- A huge challenge.”
She added, “There are gaps in
our understanding of the problem in India and this is a potential area of
research for young researchers. Experiences from countries which have already
banned Asbestos indicates that there are serious post ban issues, especially
the risks associated with exposure in abandoned asbestos mines which pose a
risk of environmental exposure. India’s changing position on this issue is a
cause of concern. We need to take a studied, scientific and solid stand on the
international forum and be ready to face the challenges which accompany such a
decision!”
Speaking at the
conference, it was argued that there is a logical compulsion for Union of India
to support inclusion of white chrysotile asbestos in the UN list of hazardous
chemicals under UN’s Rotterdam Convention.
In a related
development, an academic paper “Status of occupational health of workers in hazardous industries: An
inquiry into asbestos and ship breaking industry”published in Labour & Development journal by V. V.
Giri National Labour Institute, the Ministry of Labour & Employment,
Government India concludes. “Given incontrovertible evidence, the government ought to consider
recommendations to take preventive steps by ensure elimination of use of all
kinds of asbestos as per the recommendations of the Court, ILO and
WHO. The continued use of white chrysotile asbestos is a legacy of
the Soviet era. There are established substitutes of these killer fibers of
asbestos which need to be adopted to prevent incurable diseases but preventable
deaths. In view of the ongoing environmental exposures, emergence of the
epidemic of asbestos related diseases and diseases due to exposure to other
hazardous substances there is an immediate need to create a register of these
workers and their health records as per Court's decision and to undertake an
audit of the current status of the victims of asbestos related diseases from
the government hospital records in the country and make it mandatory for
medical colleges to provide training for doctors. This is required so that they
can diagnose diseases caused by occupational, non-occupational and
environmental exposures to killer fibers and substances.”
This paper “reveals that the relationship between the employer and the
employee in asbestos industry is deeply exploitative. The latter suffers the
fate of dehumanization. They have become the most vulnerable workforce in the
world. Their condition is admittedly worse than the workforce in the worst
industrial sector-the mining industry. This dehumanization linked to the
externalization of human cost by global and national companies. The workers of
the hazardous industries constitute part of the community of fate to which all
wretched of the earth belong with no remedy from occupational health crisis in
sight.”
Drawing on Central Government’s Draft National Health Policy, 2015 which
mentions “industrial and occupational safety” as part of multiple determinants
of health, it concludes that “So far “existing knowledge” has failed to inspire
institutional action to safeguard the health of even the most vulnerable
working class. It is apparent that there has been a policy bias against them
since inception. If this policy can facilitate preventive structural measures
with regard to preventable but incurable diseases “that are more prevalent in
certain occupational groups” it can pave the way for occupational health
justice for the workers.
BANI/ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 09818089660,
08227816731 Web: http://www.asbestosfreeindia.org, www.toxicswatch.org
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