Document 7R54jXbqmD9qOq4L200872bBa

FILE NAME: Asbestos in India (IND) DATE: 1986 Jan 12 DOC#: IND021 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Economic Times Newspaper Article - Asbestos: The Silent Killer : the silen The earliest report on this were by /control of dust wittim ^ > c `ory and again 'Other aspects of-inter national double standards' Bound. kSUKSTOSi Medical A 1***1 "* a British pathologist Gloyne, who I premises but not outside The plant, reported of having seen squamous I there is no mention of blue' asbes- Flagrant .occupation! nd wyironmental health abuses have been do pecUj By BW I. Cirtteman, carcinoma of pleitre id c&ses of ftS* l tot which is banned hi. other parts cumented at a Johns-Manviljfi affi L a w * Business' In. Haicurt Bract Jovtaovich BnMkfcers. bestosis. The carcinogenicity^ of as- l o f the world. . .' , _ bcstos was well recognised by l "3o toTharsebsehsotolds ahnadve stbaenednardesxterenlsaivtienlgy liate in Ahmedabad, India, manu facturing asbestos m eat ..jn d * by. various German, workers as well. Turner and Newell subsidiary in `In every industrial nation Most authors vverd-impressed by the unusually large proportion of lung documented in on# of the chaptersThe deficiencies of tiuesbold levels become obvious over a period of Bombay, making asbestos texttlea and friction products', " t has long been aclpxow- cancers amongst, asbestos workers originating in the-lower lopes of tee time as the inadequacies f the otn Though the mass awarenes*^Utri the deadly effects of asbestosTsviiut cdged that tl)e social order ind welfare, in fadt all the lungsT They also observed the un usually long time clasping between levels becomes more and more ob vious. and work place asbestos standards in Great Britain are a case yet sufficiently widespread, some ot the organisations concerned vwth U idvantages of civilisation, the exposure and onset of cancCt symptoms. Autopsy studies con in point. Even in I960, the stan health o f workers, like International Metal Workers Federation l** ;xist because of the working firmed these observations. dards prescribed there did not pro ready demanded a worldwide ban Luan and woman. Along with this knowledge, deve loped various protective legislations tect the workers against the risk of cancer and the norm set VMta Pos on use o f asbestos. The developing countries must weigh the potential Croat things have been said about for the workers working in asbestos tulated just on the opumistic ap praisal of a limited study of active health hazards of such substances ,ie dignity of labour and society a industry, which in a way is society s Obligations to people working i n . formal recognition of cause and ef ly employed workers at the asbes before coping West blindly from tho - ~.Z aotories and trades. The continu* uS asbestos disaster revels the fect for occupational diseases. Eng land was the first nation to formally tos textile plant. And on the. top of this independent scientists were Even if the use" of asbestos, is to tally Stopped from today, there a lepth of failure of societies both tast and West to take reasonable recognise asbestosis as a compensa ble occupational- disease. Asbes refused access to the chest X ray films whose interpretation by the a great potential of lots of exposed people developing this disease in ,ieps to protect the healthy of work- tos manufacturers in U.S. were m edicaldirector of theTextU* Plant future. The factors .aiding tl)i con ;rs against a long recognised, inoi- generally ` aware of aestosit formed the basts of standard. The consumption of asbestos in United tinuation of cthese t a W lious threat to life. This menace uas carried over from the work place in 1930's. The industry in it* con cern to avoid paying the COIJlP*J`" States is drastically tional diseases are lack of somal in tegrity at the highest levels,, in to endanger society et large. aad. onrconsis* t,e_n_ tklty.. .u. unHdaesrnpllaauyaend .ttnhie role of asbestos. In causing various and this trend is attributed to pub lic concern over the hazards of as_ bestos and liability considerations dustry and lack of courage.among politicians to take up public inter This quote froth the concluding part of the book under review sum* diseases, not' only that, it also at tempted its best to hold down com by companies who used to use as est and resist the pressures of pri up to a great extent the problem pensation costs in different ways. bestos in brake linings, fire resis vate interest. ; Will it be too much to expect related to asbestos industry and the health of worker, working in these By 1950s, a medical consensus had formed about the role ot asbestos tant textiles etc. One of' the significant epidemio from the workers unions, who at plants. This book is a doctoral dis- and compensation claims filed oy logical points made here relates to the moment are'trying to bring more and more issues related to their jcrtattbn of Baity Castleman, who k an environmental consultant in these workers in 1950's presaged the deluge of damage suns that would one study conducted at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. This stu working lives, within the scope ot numerous federal agencies and envt- come in 1970's. There is a inter dy dividly showed that death of in bargaining, to take up the issues re lunmental groups on public policy elating to the control of toxic sub esting conclusion regarding manage ments attitude to compensation sulators from asbestosis was com mon and there was a excessive in lated, the safety at w o r k p ^ V t" ternate technologies and Products stances. Ue ha accumulated a vast claims. They spent heavily in buying cidence of cancer. 50 per ^ to avoid the chemical and otjjer ha- knowledge on this dreaded mmeral ,,ud has served as an expert witness insurance, hiring legal and medical expert* to defend them and to mini the workers working for 30 years were sure to die of cancer. It Z&It is just to be hoped that those un asbestos litigation since 197b. Undoubtedly this is the best com mize the cost of the claim by every legal and political means. great surprise as to why suitable alternatives to asbestos arc not used when there is a possibility, of using in power of decision making, ministries and Industrialists wake up even at this juncture to give a se prehensive, material on most useful aspects of asbestos use in society. , This state of affairs (in United them. The book extensively lists rious thought to ban the use of as I he book begins with the historical /S ta te s and Britain) sUll .ounds.uuch such alternatives which can be suc bestos where possible, to 1<J*. .f* aspects of development of the know better when compared to the things cessfully used instead of asbestos, alternate products and to inmate ledge about asbestosis and then goes prevailing here in India. Here we all possible efforts to protect tho After deeper investigations Into over, in a masterly fashion into the various side1effects of working w a have nearly 7,000 people working in 20 asbestos industries spread aU the recent Bhopal gas disaster the WIn'nutshell this is a- remarkable asbestos plant. These side effects in- over. As per Dr. S. R. Kanrath. dual safety standards followed by multinationals became glaring^ ob book, outlining most of the com plex issues in a very lucid style and Uude asbestosis, which has been described since long and cancers oi an outstanding expert ini chest me vious. But this is not restricted to in the process bringing to us the various types (like. Mesothelioma, dicine: `There is no doubt that one third of workers in asbestos lacto that industry alone. The same ap plies also to a greater or lesser de knowledge of a slow and daftgerous poison-Asbestos Surely it s a must Bronchogenic Carcinoma etc.). It not only covers the historical as nes are suffering from asbestosis. gree to all segments of industry in for all concerned with the* health pects of most of the themes dealt with but also deals with upto date Despite this, medical experts are very reluctant to give the diagnois of Asbestosis to the asbestos work general and to asbestos in parucular. The author is emplane .hat These statements (relating to safe and safety of workers, occupational health physicians, labout lawyers and the unionists who presumably information relating to those. By 1935, asbestosis as a disease entity occurring in those working m ers suffering from lung diseases. Even the law here has great amount ty of plants in 3rd World coun tries) have been subjected to scru should undertake issues of this typo also to the bargaining tables.- asbestos industry was well establish of loopholes e.g. Mesothelioma con tinues to be left out `be scope of tiny on occasion, however, the level of control in practice in dvvelopmg SMITA PUNIYANI ed Apart from asbestosis, cancer caused by exposure to asbestos is the schedule, provisions have been countries has been consistently poor a dangerous threat to the workers. laid down for the suppression and *