'Potentially lethal, carcinogenic': Global NGO questions India refusing to ban white asbestos

By Rajiv Shah 

Associated with the Fight Inequality Alliance, a global movement that began in 2016 to "counter the concentration of power and wealth among a small elite", claiming to have members  in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, the Philippines, and Denmark, the advocacy group Confront Power appears all set to intensify its campaign against India as "the world’s largest asbestos importer". 

Stating that India is "failing to diagnose, or compensate, people who fall ill from the large amounts of asbestos it continues to import", in a detailed report, quoting a few victims' family members, the report  regrets, both government and industry  in India "are failing to acknowledge the risks to workers and their families with asbestos-related diseases", yet refusing to stop the use of the product which is already banned by dozens of countries since 2000.

Poining out that the ban has diminished the size of the asbestos industry, the report, authored by Tom Quinn, says, it has identified "new markets for its product to survive — primarily in Asia", especially India, "whose imports of white asbestos have grown from 99,000 tonnes in 2000 to 485,182 tonnes in 2023."

Notes the advocacy group report, "The World Health Organisation, International Labour Organization, scientific bodies in the over 65 countries which have banned it, and numerous non-industry funded scientific studies have all confirmed that white asbestos is potentially lethal."

However, it states, "While scientists agree that brown and blue asbestos (which are no longer mined) is more toxic, all forms of asbestos, including white asbestos, have been shown to cause asbestosis (scarring of the lungs from asbestos fibres), lung cancer, and mesothelioma. Worldwide, estimates are that over 100,000 people died from asbestos exposure in 2023."

The report says, "White asbestos is not in the United Nations treaty governing the international list of hazardous chemicals" primarily because "India, and a handful of other countries still mining or importing white asbestos, including Russia and Kazakhstan, have continually voted against ratifying that it is harmful." 

It suggests, one reason India hasn't favoured its ban is, "industry defenders" insist, risk from asbestos "comes only from other asbestos fibres", and "white asbestos ... is safe."

Pointing out that this claim is grounded in the "conspiracy" theory floated by the asbestos industry, it quotes the Indian Fibre Cement Products Manufacturers Association (FCPMA) as stating that “there is an underhanded ploy to mask the truth about chrysotile roofing sheets, spread a baseless fear and try to distance the product from the society", adding, in India the asbestos roofing is used,  by lower-income people due to its low price and durability; this “serpentine chrysotile does not cause any health hazards.”

FCPMA claims, “Workers in the chrysotile fibre cement product industry in India have not had any adverse health effects in spite of decades of service, there being no risk of exposure to fibre cement dust because of pollution control measures installed in the factories.”

However, the advocacy group counters by pointing out that Mareena Hawkes of Coimbatore in southern India "has seen first-hand the dangers of white asbestos", regretting, the FCPMA view suggests "lack of awareness in India that white asbestos can cause asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma. When people do fall ill, it can be challenging to receive an accurate diagnosis."

The report says, Mareena Hawkes' husband, Christopher Hawkes, worked from 1998 until 2010 in an asbestos industry in Coimbatore, one of over 100 asbestos cement factories in India. The family lived in the company’s housing quarters, close to the factory. In 2004, Hawkes and her three year-old daughter, Cynara, had lung issues and felt breathless. 

A doctor advised them to move home and away from the factory, but nearly 20 years later, both are still struggling with breathlessness. It quotes Mareena Hawkes as saying, “We can’t walk properly – we walk a hundred feet and we get heavy breathing.” 

The report says, "The asbestos dust was a constant issue for Hawkes’ family when she lived in the company’s quarters. Every day, morning and evening, they had to sweep because "you’ll get the white patches [of asbestos dust] all over the floor of the house”, yet the factory  "did not tell her husband the health-risks of white asbestos."

The report further says, "Hawkes’ father-in-law LG Hawkes also worked in the factory... He was never told that white asbestos could be dangerous. He died from lung cancer aged 72 in 2010", adding, “Doctors and medical specialists have very low or non-existent knowledge of asbestos and the effects it has on people exposed to it.”

The report quotes Shane McArdle, who works at the Asbestos and Dust Diseases Research Institute (ADDRI) and runs training programs in countries still using asbestos, to say that “countries that still import raw chrysotile asbestos and manufacture products do not have the knowledge, expertise, and resources to diagnose asbestos-related diseases successfully.”

Continues the report, "The risk is not just to factory workers. Those who work extensively with the materials, such as construction workers, are most at risk. While asbestos-cement roofing is safe when undamaged, it’s not widely known that if you cut or damage the sheeting, you can release toxic asbestos fibres." 

Mareena Hawkes, who now chairs  the All India Asbestos Workers and Family Welfare Association, and helps those who have lost family members to asbestos diseases, offers the example of Sherine Edmonds, who grew up in the Coimbatore industry's living quarters. "Her father, Rodney Leslie Stephen, worked as a fitter in the factory from 1960 until 1997. It wasn’t until he was dying from lung cancer that Stephen came to learn about the dangers of asbestos. He died aged 87, the same year as his diagnosis, after struggling with his health for over 20 years."

The report quotes British lawyer Krishnendu Mukherjee, who claims to have seen the "challenges his clients have faced trying to receive compensation for asbestos-related diseases in India",  helping over 4,000 people in India "obtain compensation for acquiring an asbestos-related disease." 

The compensation for these claims was drawn from a fund from a former major British company, Turner & Newell, from when they were active in India until 1995, the lawyer says, regretting, but those exposed by other means, or via Indian-based companies, have a more challenging route to obtain any measure of justice. “Unfortunately the Indian legal system isn’t fit for the purpose, for these types of claims at least,” Mukherjee is quoted as saying. “So compensation claims take years in India, and the competent levels of compensation are very low in India.” 

The advocacy group warns, "Even if a total ban on asbestos were implemented today, the amount of asbestos-containing materials in the environment, and the latency period from exposure for asbestos diseases, means there will be sickness and death in India for many decades to come", hence "ensuring access to necessary medical care" has to be the emphasized.