Asbestos in Thailand

peter_j

A friend in Thailand has mentioned to me how sad it is to see asbestos roofing for sale still there. It's very cheap so popular with the poor. I said I couldn't believe it, but a little web research shows that Quebec in Canada has an operational asbestos mine, exporting the crap to developing countries who have yet to ban it. In fact, according to NSW parliament hansard, asbestos is Canada's second largest export to Thailand.

Bans on asbestos imports to South-East Asia were planned for introduction at the beginning of 2004. But these bans were postponed following intense lobbying by the asbestos industry, which was led by Canadian exporters. The poor countries of South-East Asia do not have clear information about the dangers of working with asbestos products; they do not have good occupational health and safety regulations; they do not have good industry controls; they do not collect statistics on asbestos diseases; and they have no compensation system or social security for victims of asbestos diseases.

NSW HANSARD 14/09/05
http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC20050914047

The Canadian industry organisation, the Chrysotile Institute, says that they use a safe form of asbestos. "It is thus quite useless to panic in sight of asbestos chrysotile or products containing this fibre."
http://www.chrysotile.com/en/chrysotile/controversy/default.aspx

Nevertheless it has been banned in Australia since 2003:

Chrysotile asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral that is a known carcinogen (causes cancer). As with other forms of asbestos, exposure to chrysotile can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Australia has decided that the threat to the health of workers from exposure to chrysotile is not acceptable and is therefore introducing a ban on its import and use.
WORKSAFE W.A.
http://www.safetyline.wa.gov.au/pagebin/wswanews0055.htm