Russian asbestos endangering lives of people in Mexico

Tue, Jul 16, 2013

Asbestos

Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada.ca

Over 800 tons of asbestos, shipped by Russia to Mexico, have been left abandoned for the past eight months at the port of Veracruz, Mexico. Some sacks have broken, spilling the chrysotile asbestos out into the open. Asbestos fibres are blowing in the air and being breathed in by workers  and anyone living in the nearby area or passing through it. See photos and article below.

 

Sacks of Russian asbestos lying abandoned at the port of Veracruz, Mexico

Bags of Russian asbestos abandoned at the port of Veracruz, Mexico. The Mexican government’s Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection states that at least 30 bags are broken and the asbestos exposed.

Over 800 tons of asbestos lying abandoned at the port of Veracruz, Mexico

Russia claims that its asbestos is exported under “strict, safe conditions”

At the UN Rotterdam Convention conference in May this year, asbestos industry lobbyists from Russia, Mexico and elsewhere worked to sabotage the recommendation of the Convention’s expert scientific body to put chrysotile asbestos on the Convention’s list of hazardous substances. This would require that safety measures be followed when the product is exported.

At the May conference, the asbestos industry and its allies, such as Russia, vehemently argued that chrysotile asbestos is exported around the world under strict, controlled conditions and thus poses no threat to health and therefore does not need to be put on the list. They succeeded in defeating the listing.

Dr. Evgeny Kovalevskiy, a lead scientist at the Scientific Research Institute of Occupational Health of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, was part of the Russian government’s delegation at the Rotterdam Convention conference. Dr. Kovalevskiy argued at the conference, as he has argued elsewhere, that chrysotile asbestos poses no threat to health today and should not be put on the Convention’s list of hazardous substances. In spite of his denial of reputable scientific research on asbestos and in spite of his history of promoting the asbestos industry’s interests, Dr. Kovalevskiy has been appointed as a scientific collaborator by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

As demonstrated by the photos, the asbestos industry continues the same deception and lies that it has practiced for the past century. People in Mexico and elsewhere will pay the price of this deadly deception with their lives.

 

Health Risk Alert Due to 800 Tons of Asbestos Dumped in Mexico

Latin American Herald Tribune, July 14, 2013 

 

MEXICO CITY – More than 800 tons of asbestos from Russia were dumped eight months ago at the Mexican Gulf coast port of Veracruz and represents a health risk for the population, the Reforma newspaper reported Saturday.

In its front-page story, the daily said the material was imported by the Mexalit company, which makes construction materials.

According to the article, the product was stored in Veracruz in October 2012 when Mexalit asked a transport company to keep it at the port because its warehouses were full.

The transport company, which the daily did not identify, apparently did so but filed a complaint this year with the Veracruz state Attorney General’s Office for Mexalit’s failure to pay the storage, according to the article.

Faced with that situation, the transporter dumped the asbestos in the port’s Supply Center loading zone, located on the Veracruz-Xalapa highway, in a populated area, the paper said.

Reforma said the material is being handled with little protection by the Center’s workers and remains outdoors, with its packing deteriorating and with no measures being taken to avoid its fibers drifting into the air.

The newspaper cited a note by the World Health Organization, or WHO, which says that prolonged exposure to asbestos fibers, which do not decompose easily nor can be diluted in water and can remain airborne for a considerable time, can cause grave damage to the respiratory system.

All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic for humans and may cause mesothelioma and cancer of the lungs, larynx and ovaries, the WHO document says.

 

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