The global campaign to ban asbestos Campagna globale per la messa al bando dell amianto

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1 The global campaign to ban asbestos Campagna globale per la messa al bando dell amianto Laurie Kazan-Allen International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, London, UK Summary Asbestos is still being used in Latin America and Asia even though it is a known carcinogen. Asbestos stakeholders have worked hard to persuade workers, the media, scientists and politicians that asbestos, particularly chrysotile (white asbestos), can be used safely under controlled conditions. The human cost of asbestos use will be enormous both in developed countries, where asbestos has been banned, and in developing countries, where it is still being used. Although anti-asbestos campaigners have been mobilising since the early 1980s, their efforts were hampered by a lack of resources: new technology is enabling campaigners to communicate cheaply and easily. This has produced a climate in which national asbestos bans have been implemented. Unfortunately, the lack of human rights for asbestos victims means that compensation and medical treatment are lacking in many parts of the world; this is a situation which must be addressed. Key words: asbestos, ban, compensation Riassunto L amianto è ancora usato nell America Latina ed in Asia anche se è un cancerogeno noto. I fautori dell amianto si sono impegnati attivamente per convincere i lavoratori, i media, gli studiosi ed i politici che l amianto, soprattutto il crisotilo (asbesto bianco), possa essere usato senza rischi in condizioni controllate. I costi umani dell uso di amianto saranno enormi sia nei paesi sviluppati, dove l amianto è stato messo al bando, sia nei paesi in via di sviluppo, dove è ancora usato. Sebbene i promotori di campagne antiamianto si siano mobilitati dall inizio degli anni 80, i loro sforzi sono stati ostacolati dalla mancanza di risorse: le nuove tecnologie consentono loro di comunicare facilmente e a basso costo. Questo ha prodotto un clima in cui sono proliferate, in diversi paesi, le messe al bando dell amianto a livello nazionale. Purtroppo la mancanza di diritti umani per le vittime dell amianto comporta l assenza di risarcimenti e cure mediche in molte parti del mondo; questa è la situazione da affrontare. Parole chiave: amianto, messa la bando, risarcimento Address/Indirizzo: Mrs. Laurie Kazan-Allen, International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, PO Box 93, Stanmore, Middlesex HA74SR, UK - laurie@lkaz.demon.co.uk 77

2 Eur. J. Oncol. Library, vol. 3 Introduction Asbestos, once known as the magic mineral, is now more commonly referred to as the killer dust. Although the use of blue and brown asbestos has been banned in most countries, white asbestos, or chrysotile is still being used. Two million metric tonnes of chrysotile were mined in Many developed countries have banned chrysotile; however, it is still being used throughout Latin America, Asia and the Far East. If chrysotile is an acknowledged killer, why is it still being sold? Asbestos: a global industry Asbestos has been a global industry for one hundred years. Asbestos producers have used the considerable resources at their disposal to maximize sales and generate profits despite mounting evidence that exposure to asbestos causes disabling and fatal diseases. How did they do this? The concept of globalisation is not new; thinking globally is not new. Asbestos companies realised, very early on, that they had much to gain by cooperating with each other to develop markets, regulate prices and counter adverse publicity. As long ago as 1929, an international cartel was set up by asbestos-cement manufacturers from Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, France, Holland, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Switzerland and Germany. The objectives of this miniature League of Nations were: the exchange of technical knowledge; the establishment in Switzerland of an Institute of Research for the entire industry; the foundation of new factories in neutral countries; the organisation of the export business; the standardisation of quality, and the minimising of unnecessary variety in the product; mutual assistance in securing the necessary raw materials on the best terms 1. Although World War II brought an abrupt end to this organization, other trade associations and industry groups were formed to influence national governments and international agencies. Information was exchanged through industry organisations such as the cartel of European Asbestos Cement Producers, the Asbestos Cement Product Producers Association, the Asbestos Information Committee in England, the Asbestos Textile Institute in the US, the Permanent Committee on Asbestos in France, the Asbestos Trade Association in West Germany, the South Pacific Asbestos Association and the Asbestos Institute in Canada. Public relations campaigns were mounted to persuade workers, the public, the media, scientists and politicians that asbestos products could be used safely under controlled conditions 2. Since 1984, the Asbestos Institute in Montreal, Canada has led the international prochrysotile lobby. Between 1984 and 2001, the institute received $54 million from the Federal and Quebec Governments and the asbestos industry to conduct a global campaign targeted at national governments, trade unions, decision makers, civil servants, journalists, scientists, doctors and consumers. Drawing on its very generous budget, one of the Directors of the Asbestos Institute, has made more than one hundred overseas trips 2. The human cost of asbestos As asbestos producers reaped the profits and their representatives enjoyed the glamour of foreign travel, others paid the price. The human toll from the unregulated use of asbestos 78

3 L. Kazan-Allen: Global campaign to ban asbestos was enormous. The millions who suffered from diseases caused by exposure to asbestos experienced many of the same problems: deterioration of their health, little or no compensation, lack of appropriate medical treatment, financial deprivation and social exclusion. Epidemiologists predict that between 1995 and 2029, there will be at least 500,000 asbestos-related deaths in Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland 3. In most of these countries, there has been some attempt to control asbestos exposure. How much higher will the death rate be, in the many countries where no controls existed? Double standards Throughout the 20 th Century, many asbestos corporations had multinational operations: they mined the fibre in Southern Rhodesia, South Africa, Swaziland and Canada and turned it into finished products in the US, Italy, Belgium, Britain, France, India and elsewhere. They rarely applied first world health and safety regulations to third world employees. When the use of asbestos was banned in France, Saint-Gobain, a leading French asbestos manufacturer, converted its French factories to non-asbestos technology. Overseas, however, the company remained committed to asbestos; its Brazilian subsidiaries continued to profit from its shares in the country s largest asbestos mine. Another example of double standards is the treatment of asbestos victims. The Europeanowned Eternit Group had asbestos factories all over the world; Eternit s manufacturing processes produced asbestos-cement material and asbestos victims. While Eternit s former employees in Holland now receive compensation for their illness, former workers in Italy, Belgium and Latin America receive nothing. The birth of victim support groups One of the first people to speak out for UK asbestos victims was Nancy Tait. Dr. Tait s husband died of mesothelioma and her attempts to get information on his illness were frustrated by the medical establishment and government agencies. After his death, she put her experience to good use by helping others. The Hull Asbestos Action Group was set up by Dick Jackson, a former insulator, who died of an asbestos-related disease six years ago. During the 1980s, Italian workers and asbestos victims in Casale Monferrato began to campaign against conditions in the local Eternit asbestos factory; former asbestos miners from the Wittenoom crocidolite mine in Western Australia also began to organise. Despite their best efforts however, asbestos victims remained marginalized. This isolation produced an information vacuum which was successfully exploited by asbestos defendants who continued to deny calls for compensation. During the 1990s, social mobilization of asbestos victims increased: in the UK, groups sprang up in Glasgow, Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield, Plymouth and Manchester. Across the channel, ANDEVA, the French National Association for the Defence of Victims of Asbestos, was created. Simultaneously, the work of new groups in Italy, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan and Brazil made positive contributions to the plight of asbestos victims 2. Counter powers begin to organise In the 1990s, counter powers began to organise. Individuals, trade unionists, politicians and members of groups which had been campaigning against asbestos in Europe met in 79

4 Eur. J. Oncol. Library, vol. 3 Strasbourg in June, 1991 at the European Parliament. The Ban Asbestos Network (BAN) was formed and volunteer coordinators were appointed to collect and disseminate regional information. Between , BAN held a series of meetings in France, Italy and Brazil to discuss progress on issues which included: an immediate ban on asbestos mining, raising public awareness, improving medical surveillance and compensation for victims, and the development of suitable alternatives. Unfortunately, communication amongst BAN members was hampered by the lack of funding and the high cost of international communication. Unlike the Canadian Asbestos Institute, there was no luxuriously furnished suite of offices with 30 salaried workers to implement proposals. The generous funding that industry representatives continued to receive, ensured that their pro-chrysotile message was widely promoted. Anti-asbestos campaigners did what they could but were seriously hampered by the lack of resources. The advent of the internet levelled the playing field. Information could be circulated worldwide in a matter of minutes at negligible cost. The transformation into the twenty-four hour, seven day a week society created a demand for information which could only be fulfilled by a permanent body. In 1999 after extensive discussions with international colleagues it was decided to set up the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS). By using new technology, we hoped to correct the David and Goliath imbalance between victims and industry which had prevailed for decades. We replaced David s slingshot with the worldwide web. The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat As the Coordinator of IBAS, my prime objective is to obtain a global ban on asbestos. It is not enough to ban asbestos in the European Union and Western countries; asbestos producers will continue to sell their poison to the developing world. If asbestos is too toxic for the lungs of Englishmen, Italians and Germans, why is it safe for the lungs of Indonesian and Mexican workers? Using information obtained from members of our network, IBAS works to expose the lies told by industry 4. In many languages, industry groups say: chrysotile is safe ; international organisations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Trade Organisation, the European Commission and the Collegium Ramazzini say that all asbestos kills. Industry says that chrysotile can be used safely under controlled conditions ; reports from Brazil, India and Pakistan reveal that even now workers are being exposed to dangerously high levels of asbestos. Current position Chile, Argentina, most of Western Europe and much of Brazil have prohibited the use of chrysotile, other forms of asbestos having been banned previously. Last year, plans were implemented for asbestos bans in Australia, Spain, Luxembourg and the Slovak Republic 5. The Government of Vietnam has announced plans to ban chrysotile in Most of the Eastern European countries poised to join the European Union (EU), plan to ban chrysotile by the 2005 EU deadline. In April, 2002, a new group called BANI (the Ban Asbestos Network of India) was formed. BANI s first goal is an immediate ban on the import, use, manufacture and trading of all forms of asbestos and asbestos products. In the United States, proposals to ban chrysotile were announced on June 18, 2002 by Senator Patty Murray in 80

5 L. Kazan-Allen: Global campaign to ban asbestos the Congressional bill entitled Ban Asbestos in America Act. In Asia and the Far East, the situation is changing. Singapore s strict asbestos regulations constitute a de facto ban. Highlevel discussions about unilateral bans are proceeding in Japan and Malaysia. A few months ago, I heard rumours that the Government of Iran is considering plans to ban asbestos. Conclusion I should like to conclude this overview of the global campaign to ban asbestos with the words of Hendrik Saaiman, who comes from the mining town of Koegas in South Africa, home to the crocidolite (blue asbestos) mine owned by Cape Asbestos: My whole family worked for Cape. I can t say if my father died of the asbestos dust. But he did complain about his chest and had a bad cough. I was 12, or even younger, when I started to work at Koegas. We had to cope with the dust, it was how we earned a little money. It is only now that I hear that the dust effects your lungs, those days we knew nothing 6. Asbestos fibre produced in Koegas was used to make military gas masks in England. Many of the English women who worked on the assembly line contracted asbestos diseases. Since the commercial exploitation of asbestos began, a wake of disease and death has followed the chain of production and damaged many who came into contact with the killer dust : Asbestos victims deserve equal rights to compensation, medical treatment and support in England, Italy, Brazil and South Africa. Victims, doctors, medical researchers, sociologists and non governmental organisations must overcome national boundaries and professional demarcations to work towards achieving basic human rights for asbestos sufferers. The virtual asbestos network is a powerful force for legal and social change; working together, a global ban on asbestos and justice for all asbestos victims can be achieved. References 1. Accounts of Turner & Newall Ltd Kazan-Allen L. The asbestos war. Int J Occup Environ Health 2003; 9: Peto J, Decarli A, La Vecchia C, et al. The European mesothelioma epidemic. Br J Cancer 1999; 79 (3/4): IBAS Website: 5. Kazan-Allen L. Asbestos dispatches. Int J Occup Environ Health 2004; 10: Annals of the Global Asbestos Congress: Past, Present and Future. CD,

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