Breakthrough? Causing asbestosis, lung cancer, India to get tremolite asbestos from China

By Rajiv Shah

Senior Vadodara-based health rights activist Jagdish Patel has forwarded to me an important news item. Emanating from Gansu Province, located in the northwestern region of China, and disseminated by Gansu News, which covers a range of topics, including regional development and economic activities, in the province, the news item, in "simple" Chinese with translation in English, says that there is "breakthrough" in exporting asbestos from China to India.

Hailing the breakthrough in foreign trade for the province's Akesai county for the first time, "showcasing" it as regional economic progress, the news of export to India comes six months after the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a ban on the only type of asbestos, chrysotile, used in the United States. Banned in 65 countries around the world, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), an estimated 100,000 people die each year from “work-related asbestos exposure” because asbestos is considered carcinogenic.

Widely used in the construction of homes and offices throughout the USA and many other parts of the world until the later half of the 20th century, given that it is a very good electrical and heat insulator, and is strongly fire and corrosion resistant, the American environmental agency was reportedly grappling with banning all forms of asbestos for several decades. Less carcinogenic, chrysotile or white asbestos was allowed to be imported and used for tyre and brake manufacturing. Other types, actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, crocidolite, and tremolite, were already banned.

The type of asbestos which will be exported from China is tremolite, which is considered toxic. "Inhaling tremolite fibers can lead to asbestosis, lung cancer, and pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma", to quote Wikipedia. While India banned asbestos mining way back in 1993, imports have continued. The Chinese news item, which appeared on December 22, happily announced "breakthrough in foreign trade exports for Aksay County, Jiuquan City" for tremolite asbestos.

Let me quote from the news item, sourced on Daily Gansu Network - Gansu Daily, which says, "According to Lanzhou Customs, recently, 50 tons of tremolite asbestos departed from Aksay County, Jiuquan City, to Lianyungang, from where it will be shipped to India. This marks the first export of tremolite asbestos from Aksay County and signifies a breakthrough in the county’s foreign trade exports."

Praising tremolite asbestos, "a fibrous mineral", the news item says, it has "excellent high-temperature insulation properties", and is "widely used in industries such as petroleum, chemicals, and machinery." It adds, "Aksay County is rich in energy and mineral resources, with tremolite asbestos reserves exceeding 45 million tons, accounting for about one-third of the national total."

The news item quotes Zhao Chundong, the head of Aksay Taige Chemical Development Co, Ltd as saying, “In the past, we were unfamiliar with foreign trade operations. Customs and related departments not only proactively introduced policies but also provided hands-on guidance in procedures such as export declaration, inspection, and certification.”

It also quotes Sun Chengyu, Director of Dunhuang Airport Customs, as stating that to "help expand the overseas market for Aksay asbestos and ensure stable supply chains, Dunhuang Airport Customs has partnered with local commerce and industry departments this year to form a foreign trade task force and a youth commando team. They provide one-on-one policy consultations and business guidance for enterprises."

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

The greatest threat to our food system: The aggressive push for GM crops

By Bharat Dogra Thanks to the courageous resistance of several leading scientists who continue to speak the truth despite increasing pressures from the powerful GM crop and GM food lobby , the many-sided and in some contexts irreversible environmental and health impacts of GM foods and crops, as well as the highly disruptive effects of this technology on farmers, are widely known today.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

UP tribal woman human rights defender Sokalo released on bail

By A Representative After almost five months in jail, Adivasi human rights defender and forest worker Sokalo Gond has been finally released on bail.Despite being granted bail on October 4, technical and procedural issues kept Sokalo behind bars until November 1. The Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) and the All India Union of Forest Working People (AIUFWP), which are backing Sokalo, called it a "major victory." Sokalo's release follows the earlier releases of Kismatiya and Sukhdev Gond in September. "All three forest workers and human rights defenders were illegally incarcerated under false charges, in what is the State's way of punishing those who are active in their fight for the proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (2006)", said a CJP statement.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

'Restructuring' Sahitya Akademi: Is the ‘Gujarat model’ reaching Delhi?

By Prakash N. Shah* A fortnight and a few days have slipped past that grim event. It was as if the wedding preparations were complete and the groom’s face was about to be unveiled behind the ceremonial tinsel. At 3 PM on December 18, a press conference was poised to announce the Sahitya Akademi Awards .

Search This Blog