India 'continues' carcinogenic asbestos use, trade, manufacture amidst US import ban

By Dr Gopal Krishna*

ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), a member of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), has welcomed total import ban on White Chrysotile Asbestos, a mineral fiber that causes laryngeal cancer, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and ovarian cancer by USA under the the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) which was amended in 2016.

The new TCSA law provides the US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) with more authority to restrict or ban commercial chemicals. The chrysotile asbestos ban is the first rule under the amended toxic chemical safety law. Unlike India which has imposed a partial ban on White Chrysotile Asbestos, US Environmental Protection Agency has announced that it is banning import of White Chrysotile Asbestos for all of the purposes for which these mineral fibers is used.

“The science is clear. There is simply no safe level of exposure to asbestos”, asserted Michael Regan, the 16th Administrator of USEPA, in a press conference while announcing the decision.

Empowered by the amendment in TCSA, Washington, DC based US Environment Protection Agency (USEPA) has gone beyond its 35 years old 55 page long regulation dated July 12, 1989, which had prohibited “the future manufacture, importation, processing, and distribution in commerce of asbestos in almost all products”under Section 6 of the Toxic Substances. Control Act (TSCA), 1976. But this 1989 prohibition was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on October 25, 1991. Sadly, the Court decision was not appealed by the US President George HW Bush administration.

It is because of the tireless altruistic work of Washington, DC based Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and public health scholars like Dr Barry Castleman, the author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, Prof. Arthur L Frank and Prof. David Michaels, the author of "Doubt is Their Product: How Industry's Assault on Science Threatens Your Health" that made the USEPA to announce the final Part 1 rule prohibiting the importation and use of one type of white chrysotile as a significant step towards safeguarding the public health of present and future citizens of USA.

Linda Reinstein, co-founder and president of ADAO has underlined that the rule has limited scope because it addresses only one of the six conditions. As a next step, the USEPA must restrict importation and use of five other recognized asbestos fibers, namely, crocidolite, amosite, anthophyllite, tremolite, and actinolite.

It is estimated that 50,000 Indians are dying of incurable asbestos-related diseases every year

She said,“Users of raw asbestos and asbestos-containing brake blocks and gaskets in the chlor-alkali, brake block, chemical and refining sectors will finally be required to transition to non-asbestos technology, but we are alarmed that the rule allows an unnecessarily long transition period and creates inconsistent compliance deadlines for certain asbestos users, which will allow dangerous exposure to chrysotile asbestos to continue for years to come.”

The victims of asbestos-related diseases are a community of the same fate. It is estimated that 50,000 Indians are dying of incurable asbestos-related diseases every year. In the US, more than one million US citizens have died from preventable asbestos-caused diseases during 1991-2021.The ruling parties and governments of USA and India must put public health before naked lust for profit, without being constrained by questionable electoral finance from asbestos based companies.

The announcement by USEPA was made on March 18, 2024.TWA and BANI said, they hope that India will impose a total ban on trade, manufacture and use of deadly mineral fibers of White Chrysotile Asbestos. BANI has been working for making India free from asbestos and asbestos related disease since April 2002 with limited success.

TWA and BANI urged USEPA to desist from allowing long phase-out periods for some specific asbestos users and from permitting five other types of asbestos mineral fibers, drawing lessons from some 70 countries which have banned asbestos of all kinds.

Notably, Dr S Jaishankar, Union Minister of External Affairs informed parliament on February 9, 2023, "There were asbestos concerns with regard to Indian property in Washington DC It posed a challenge in preparing it for use as an Indian Cultural Centre.”

It seems someone took India for a ride by selling a hazardous asbestos laden building in Washington D.C. An inquiry must be ordered by the government to ascertain who compelled India to buy asbestos laden property in Washington D.C.

There is a compelling need for both the USA and India to enact a comprehensive ban on trade, manufacture and use of all six kinds of asbestos to pave the way for a future free from the tragedy of asbestos-related diseases.

---

*With ToxicsWatch Alliance and Ban Asbestos Network of India

Comments

Covishield controversy: How India ignored a warning voice during the pandemic

Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD * It is a matter of pride for us that a person of Indian origin, presently Director of National Institute of Health, USA, is poised to take over one of the most powerful roles in public health. Professor Jay Bhattacharya, an Indian origin physician and a health economist, from Stanford University, USA, will be assuming the appointment of acting head of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), USA. Bhattacharya would be leading two apex institutions in the field of public health which not only shape American health policies but act as bellwether globally.

Growth without justice: The politics of wealth and the economics of hunger

By Vikas Meshram* In modern history, few periods have displayed such a grotesque and contradictory picture of wealth as the present. On one side, a handful of individuals accumulate in a single year more wealth than the annual income of entire nations. On the other, nearly every fourth person in the world goes to bed hungry or half-fed.

Thali, COVID and academic credibility: All about the 2020 'pseudoscientific' Galgotias paper

By Jag Jivan The first page image of the paper "Corona Virus Killed by Sound Vibrations Produced by Thali or Ghanti: A Potential Hypothesis" published in the Journal of Molecular Pharmaceuticals and Regulatory Affairs , Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2020), has gone viral on social media in the wake of the controversy surrounding a Chinese robot presented by the Galgotias University as its original product at the just-concluded AI summit in Delhi . The resurfacing of the 2020 publication, authored by Dharmendra Kumar , Galgotias University, has reignited debate over academic standards and scientific credibility.

The 'glass cliff' at Galgotias: How a university’s AI crisis became a gendered blame game

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan* “She was not aware of the technical origins of the product and in her enthusiasm of being on camera, gave factually incorrect information.” These were the words used in the official press release by Galgotias University following the controversy at the AI Impact Summit in Delhi. The statement came across as defensive, petty, and deeply insensitive.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

Activists warn of gendered impact of VB-GRAMG Act, seek return to MGNREGA framework

By A Representative The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA), along with the Agrarian Alliance and Workers’ Forum of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), has written to President Droupadi Murmu urging her to call upon Parliament to repeal the newly enacted Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-GRAMG Act) and restore and strengthen the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Stray dogs, an epsilon (ϵ) problem: Of child labour, and the art of misplaced priorities

By Bhaskaran Raman The Greek alphabet ϵ (epsilon) is used in maths and science to denote a quantity which is not zero, but extremely small *** Since the Supreme Court's interim order on the issue of stray dogs came out on 07 Nov 2025, there have been a range of opinion pieces speaking for the voiceless. Most of them take the stance that there is a "problem" with stray dogs, but that we need a humane solution. I agree with this broadly, but I think we need new terminology to talk about this.

Search This Blog