Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada
The Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health has published the Statement, issued by one hundred and forty-three scientists and organisations from thirty countries, in response to efforts by the International Chrysotile Association (a global asbestos lobby organisation) to prevent a ban on asbestos by Pakistan. The Statement exposed the information put forward by the International Chrysotile Association as being dishonest, deceptive and false and urged Pakistan to protect the health of its citizens by approving the proposed ban on asbestos.
The president of the International Chrysotile Association, Jean-Marc Leblond, a long-time asbestos executive, who initiated the efforts to prevent the proposed ban on asbestos in Pakistan, was also present at the Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva last month, along with other asbestos industry lobbyists from Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, India, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Brazil and Vietnam, who sought to prevent the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance.
The asbestos lobbyists and seven countries allied to the asbestos industry put forward this same dishonest, deceptive and false information in their efforts – which were unfortunately successful – to sabotage the Rotterdam Convention so as to protect their financial profits, without regard for harm to human life.
Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health, Volume 68, Issue 4, 2013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19338244.2013.780807
Wed, Jun 5, 2013
Asbestos