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International asbestos developments

Failure to Ban Asbestos Remains a Global Problem

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As of 2018, the failure to ban asbestos remains a global problem that will plague the world for many decades to come. Though 66 countries have banned asbestos because of its proven health risk, there are still many that have not. In fact, half of the G20 countries still mine or use asbestos. The G20 countries comprise the 20 top countries contributing to the global economy. Almost two-thirds of the world population lives in these countries, producing four-fifths of the gross world products and three-quarters of global trade. G20 countries that have not banned asbestos include the United States and our North American neighbors, Canada and Mexico.

Asbestos regulations in the US, Canada, and Mexico

USA

Though there are some limitations, the United States has not banned the use of asbestos. In 1918 a report on diseases from asbestos exposure was published. Through the following decades additional research documented the impact on health. Yet, the 1960s through the 1970s saw widespread use of asbestos in everything from ships, to multiple construction applications, to brake linings, to any industry using high heat processes – even in baby powder.

Efforts to ban the mineral have been ongoing for many years. In 1970 the Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed outlining guidelines for use. In 1971, OSHA issued the first regulation for general industry. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) first recommended a ban on asbestos in the workplace in 1976. Other partial bans were put in place in the decades since, but many asbestos-containing products are still allowed in US markets. The 2016 revised Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) provided some hope that a ban could come, but only time will tell.

As a consequence of these prior – and current – exposures, 12,000-15,000 Americans continue to die each year due to mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis. Other deaths occur due to various cancers of the larynx, ovary, and complications from non-malignant asbestos-related diseases. Asbestos-caused diseases are preventable. Science has proven that all levels of any type of asbestos can be deadly. A strategy to prevent further exposures through a complete ban on all manufacture, import, and use of asbestos has been proven effective. There is no logical reason to delay a ban.

CANADA

The Canadian government has promised a comprehensive ban on the mineral this year. Two health agencies, Health Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, sponsored the Prohibition of Asbestos and Asbestos Products Regulations that would prohibit the import, use, and sale of asbestos and products containing it. However, there are anti-asbestos champions that say these regulations would have too many exemptions and would not cover asbestos-containing products produced and installed before the regulations take effect.

Canada had one of the largest asbestos mines in the world from the 1870s until its closure in 2011. Throughout the decades, government agencies supported this highly profitable industry despite hard evidence of the health risks. Gabriel Miller, vice-president of public issues for the Canadian Cancer Society, explained the change in direction, “What a ban says is: We admit, all asbestos causes deadly cancers, and it comes in no safe form. And ending the denial and the delay that’s defined our approach to asbestos in Canada is the first step to healing the scars of this substance.”

MEXICO

Mexican companies use asbestos in many products – roofing, boilers, pipes, brakes, and wires are a few of the products produced by over 2,000 Mexican companies. Mexico, along with China and India, leads the asbestos market for developing countries. The material is cheap and versatile, and therefore appealing to these countries in spite of the proven health hazards. Because of this growing market, experts predict deaths from asbestos may reach ten million worldwide by 2030 and thousands of those will come from Mexico.

The Mexican Social Security Institute oversees public health under the federal Secretariat of Health. A physician and researcher with the institute, Dr. Guadalupe Aguilar Madrid, asserts the weak worker protection laws permitted these dangerous conditions to continue. “The epidemic can grow like it grew in the countries that started to work with asbestos after the Second World War.” She predicts the death toll from asbestos-related diseases will rise from 1,500 currently to approximately 5,000 annually and will continue to rise without a total ban of asbestos. While any asbestos-caused cancer can be deadly, that is especially so with mesothelioma. Yet, health experts estimate only 29% of mesothelioma deaths are reported.

Aguilar points to an asbestos trade association, the Instituto Mexicano de Fibro Industrias (IMFI) as the lead in opposing restrictions or a ban on asbestos. The founder and president of this group, Luis Cejudo Alva, proclaimed, “Why does this lady [Aguilar] say that the dust that comes from the asbestos sheets kills people? It is only dust . . . These sheets are an answer for people’s needs.” The IMFI and the Mexican government are in close agreement, meaning an asbestos ban in Mexico is not seen for the foreseeable future. Despite all the scientific proof of the deadly consequences of asbestos exposure, Mexico works hand-in-hand with Russia to not only keep asbestos in their respective countries, but to encourage other countries to continue its use as well. To disguise the continued use of asbestos, the word “asbestos” is no longer used. It is now the “fibre industry” making “fibre-cement” products, but this fibre industry will kill Mexican citizens for many decades to come.

North America’s failure to ban asbestos

While the three North American countries could have been world leaders in the abolishment of asbestos, they are instead responsible for the painful deaths of thousands of their citizens and citizens throughout the world who received imported asbestos products or exported them to North America.

Asbestos-related diseases are totally preventable, but with the long delay between exposure and diagnosis, it is imperative to ban these products immediately. They are embedded in the fabric of our lives and it will take a concentrated effort to remove those already installed and stop – completely – any further mining or use. That day seems very distant, but it is important that we citizens speak up to our governments and let them know we understand the dangers from their failure to ban asbestos.

In the US, contact your congressional representatives and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and let responsible parties know a ban is necessary. Clean up, North America.

Earth Day 2018: Free the Earth from Plastic Pollution

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Throughout the world, there is an ever-growing problem with plastics and Earth Day 2018 is poised to stop the growth and free the Earth from plastic pollution. That is the focus for Earth Day this year with a goal to end plastic pollution by Earth Day 2020, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The Earth Day website is full of ideas, projects, and education that provide tools to making this goal a reality.

Earth Day 2018

Earth Day began in 1970 when millions of people protested the harmful affects from 150 years of industrial development and pollution. Global awareness of the need to make changes was precipitated by a multitude of signs: deadly smog, a decline in biodiversity from pesticides and other pollutants, and a need to protect endangered species. The U.S. Congress and President Nixon created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act.

Since April 22, 1970, Earth Day has been an annual global event. In 2018, it’s expected 1 billion people in 192 countries will participate in this civic-focused day of action – the largest in the world. People come from various civic, political, corporate, governmental, and religious groups to do their part protecting “God’s greatest creations, humans, biodiversity and the planet we all live on,” a quote from Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network (EDN), the organization leading Earth Day globally.

The use and disposal of plastics have repercussions throughout the world and that is why Earth Day 2018 is targeting plastic pollution this year and ongoing until at least 2020. Plastics poison and injure marine life, disrupt human hormones, pollute oceans, water, and wildlife and as they slowly decompose, create serious problems globally. It is not overstating the danger of their exponential growth to proclaim plastics are threatening Earth’s survival.

End Plastic Pollution, the EDN multi-year campaign

The EDN goals for this campaign are: “ending single-use plastics, promoting alternatives to fossil fuel-based materials, promoting 100 percent recycling of plastics, corporate and government accountability and changing human behavior concerning plastics.”

The EDN End Plastic Pollution campaign has four primary components:

• Lead a grassroots movement to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution;
• Educate, mobilize, and activate citizens across the globe to demand that governments and corporations control and clean up plastic pollution;
• Promote local government regulatory and other efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
• Educate people worldwide to take personal responsibility for plastic pollution by choosing to reject, reduce, reuse and recycle plastics.

How can you help free the earth of plastic pollution?

Educate

Education is a priority to enlighten and pull together people throughout the world to solve this critical problem. From the earliest grades through university, there are lesson plans, activities, and a calculator of your plastic pollution footprint.

Get Involved

Sign up and join the world’s largest environmental movement and receive occasional update emails.

Donate

Support EDN and its mission to broaden, diversify, and mobilize the environmental movement throughout the globe.

Spread the word

Use your social media and other forums to educate and introduce others to ways we all can help clean up our beautiful planet.

If you as an individual or family have plans for an Earth Day activity, register here and “get on the map”. For organizations with a planned activity, register here.

 

 

Canadian Health and Environment Groups Propose Asbestos Ban

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Canada, having closed its last asbestos mine in 2011, is moving forward with a proposal to stop the “use, sale, import and export” of asbestos and asbestos-containing products. The full ban is expected sometime in 2018. Canada reported approximately 1,900 lung cancer cases and 430 mesothelioma cases in 2011. Besides the human suffering and loss of life, each case costs the health system of Canada over $1 million. The danger of asbestos exposure has been known for decades. More than thirty years ago the World Health Organization declared it a human carcinogen.

The proposal is sponsored by the Canadian federal health and environment departments. Catherine McKenna, Environment and Climate Change Minister, stated, “By launching these new tougher rules to stop the manufacture, import, use and sale of asbestos, we are following through on our promises to protect all Canadians from exposure to this toxic substance.”

Is it enough?

According to Kathleen Ruff, long an advocate for a total asbestos ban, said the proposal is a good start, but there is more to be done. She believes the citizens of Canada are unaware of the hazards still present in buildings throughout the country and recommends a national registry of asbestos-containing buildings, as well as comprehensive standards for asbestos abatement. She is also concerned with the exemptions in the proposal – most affecting cleanup around the land of former mines as millions of tons of residue are disturbed. This could potentially release the deadly fibers into the air for workers to inhale.

Time for action

Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said, “I’m hoping this federal initiative will spur the provinces to do more, because we’ve got far more to do at the provincial level now with the federal government finally getting onside to banning asbestos.”

Though this is overall a necessary move for the country, it will have detractors since certain industries will be affected. These include cement pipe manufacturers, automotive businesses importing brake pads, and any business that imports and uses asbestos-containing parts.

One by one, countries are realizing and acting on the banning asbestos, but it is a struggle. The United States has still not banned its use completely. With a period of decades between exposure and disease diagnosis, the world will continue to lose people from asbestos for the foreseeable future. Canada’s proposal is a step in the right direction.

A Major Achievement – Brazil Bans Asbestos

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The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) ruled to ban asbestos throughout all of Brazil ¬ – a major achievement. Brazil is the third largest asbestos producer in the world through its mining operations, a major global exporter of asbestos, as well as a user of asbestos in manufacturing and construction. For the STF to ban asbestos shows a positive shift in direction for protecting the health of Brazilians and also for limiting exposure to millions of people throughout the world. This ruling may be the impetus of a worldwide ban, which could be closely followed by a Canadian ban, currently pending.

Why ban asbestos?

This bold move by the STF affirms there is no safe or controlled use of asbestos. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) “all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are carcinogenic to humans.” The US spent an estimated 4 million dollars on asbestos from Brazil since 2013, all to be used by the chlor-alkali industry. This ban will drastically limit accessibility to asbestos in the US and other countries.

ADAO Celebrates this ruling

Dr. Barry Castleman, who has testified at public hearings on behalf of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) remarked, “Congratulations to Brazil, the first country that has banned asbestos even as active asbestos mines were operating. This is the result of an extraordinary social movement that now opens the final chapter on ending asbestos use in the Americas. . . We (the US) now face the prospect of importing Russian asbestos and asbestos propaganda, all because US chlorine producers want to go on using asbestos.”

Dr. Arthur Frank, another ADAO witness to the harms of asbestos said, “After years of careful deliberation and listening to all sides on the issue of the safe use of chrysotile, the Brazilian Supreme Court has reached the only safe and sound decision and has voted to protect the lives of Brazilians and many others and needs to be applauded, and I only wish [were] so enlightened in the USA.”

The US battle continues

This recent ban was deliberated in Brazilian courts for decades, but they continued to press on through many disappointing decisions until they won. Those in the US who understand the dangers and ramifications must also continue the fight against all asbestos importation and use until asbestos, the “miracle mineral”, is totally banned throughout the US.

SPREP Countries Vote to Ban Asbestos

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The Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP,) comprising 21 Pacific island and five metropolitan areas, voted to “restrict the importation, re-use and re-sale of products and wastes containing asbestos in Pacific island countries.”

The impetus for this move was the Rotterdam Convention’s failure in past years to list chrysotile asbestos on Annex III of the Convention. That failure–combined with results of an asbestos baseline survey of the Pacific region in 2014–revealed new asbestos-containing building materials are still being imported into the region. In addition, the survey uncovered over 145,000 square meters of confirmed high or moderate risk non-residential asbestos across 11 Pacific island countries.

This 2014 survey was conducted by PacWaste, a project funded by the European Union. Prior votes to ban asbestos at SPREP meetings were hampered by concerns for resourcing implementation of such a ban. The current vote to ban was supported by an announcement that the European Union would provide funding through a new project called PacWaste Plus.

Mr. Christoph Wagner, Head of Cooperation at the European Union Delegation for the Pacific, recognized this achievement saying, “We welcome this decision from Pacific Island nations to work towards joining 59 other countries, including all member states of the European Union, to ban asbestos. It’s a fantastic outcome for the health and wellbeing of communities across the Pacific region, and an effective recognition of the work undertaken through PacWaste and planned for PacWaste Plus.”

Unfortunately, the United States has not yet fully banned asbestos. Since asbestos-related diseases, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, can take up to 50 years before diagnosis, it is important that a full ban of asbestos importation and use in products become law to save the lives of current and future generations.