Skip to main content

Chrysotile asbestos: Chemicals Ministry hostage to NIOH's old, 'discredited' study

By Gopal Krishna* 

How can India's Ministry of Chemicals and the Ministry of Health take contrary positions at the United Nations (UN) on all kinds of asbestos including hazardous chrysotile asbestos when both ministries are headed by the same minister, Mansukh Mandaviya?
UN's Tenth Conference of Parties to Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for hazardous chemicals in International Trade which is underway in Geneva is considering listing of chrysotile asbestos in the PIC list of hazardous chemicals in compliance with the recommendations of the Chemical Review Committee.
But Indian Ministry of Chemicals remains hostage to an old discredited conflict of interest ridden study co-sponsored by Chemicals Ministry and chrysotile asbestos companies. Even this study does not say that chrysotile asbestos is non-hazardous. This dubious made-to-order study by the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), a unit of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on chrysotile asbestos belittles India's stature among the world's scientific community.
Notably, this made-to-order study is proudly published on the websites of chrysotile asbestos industry association and the Ministry of Chemicals in total regard of what the World Health Organisation (WHO), the National Health Portal (NHP) and the Supreme Court of India is saying about chrysotile asbestos. The text articulating the position of ministry of health is attached.
There is a logic compulsion for India to support listing of chrysotile asbestos in the PIC list of hazardous chemicals because India's new Occupational Safety Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020 recognises hazardous nature of all kinds of asbestos including the chrysotile asbestos and the diseases caused by it.
Having banned mining of all kinds of asbestos, having banned trade in asbestos waste (dust and fibers), having banned asbestos in talcum powder, having decided to make over 7,000 railway stations asbestos free and having outlawed use of asbestos in ships, it is high time India made it's position consistent with the recommendations of Chemical Review Committee, WHO and International Labour Organisation (ILO).
----
*LL.M, PhD, with Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)

Comments

TRENDING

Defeat of martial law: Has the decisive moment for change come in South Korea?

By Steven Lee  Late at night on December 3, soldiers stormed into South Korea’s National Assembly in armored vehicles and combat helicopters. Assembly staff desperately blocked their assault with fire extinguishers and barricades. South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol had just declared martial law to “ eliminate ‘anti-state’ forces .”

70,000 migrants, sold on Canadian dream, face uncertain future: Canada reinvents the xenophobic wheel

By Saurav Sarkar*  Bikram Singh is running out of time on his post-study work visa in Canada. Singh is one of about 70,000 migrants who were sold on the Canadian dream of eventually making the country their home but now face an uncertain future with their work permits set to expire by December 2024. They came from places like India, China, and the Philippines, and sold their land and belongings in their home countries, took out loans, or made other enormous commitments to get themselves to Canada.

A groundbreaking non-violent approach: Maharishi’s invincible defense technology

By MajGen (R) Kulwant Singh, Col (R) SP Bakshi, Col (R) Jitendra Jung Karki, LtCol (R) Gunter Chassé & Dr David Leffler*  In today’s turbulent world, achieving lasting peace and ensuring national security are more urgent than ever. Traditional defense methods focus on advanced weapons, military strategies, and tactics, but a groundbreaking approach offers a new non-violent and holistic solution: Maharishi’s Invincible Defense Technology (IDT). 

This Indian British Marxist blamed USSR's collapse in 1991 on Khrushchev's 'revisionism'

By Harsh Thakor*  Harpal Singh Brar, British Indian Marxist scholar and communist leader, has passed away in Chandigarh. He was 85. He was a lifelong supporter of socialism, Marxism, and the working class. He will be remembered among British Communists.

Chalapathi's death in encounter suggests Maoists' inability to establish broader mass support

By Harsh Thakor* The Maoist movement experienced a significant loss during the Ramagudem encounter on January 21, with the death of Chalapathi (Pratap), a Central Committee member of the CPI (Maoist). His death, along with 15 others, marks a major setback for the movement. Reports suggest that his location was revealed to security forces through a selfie with his wife.

Why do we mostly resist and refrain from communicating on sanitation topic?

By Nikhil Kumar, Mansee Bal Bhargava* According to UN SDG Progress report (2022), at the present moment no targets for SDG 6 are expected to be met by 2030. In 2022, 2.2 billion people had no access to safe drinking water and 3.5 million lacked safe sanitation. Approximately 50% of the world’s population was reported to have been under resourced in enough water for part of the year and a quarter of that population was living under “extremely high” water stress. Add to it, droughts have affected over 1.4 billion people between 2002 and 2021.

Govt of India asked to work for release of 217 Indian fishermen detained in Pakistan since 2021

By A Representative  Members of the fishing communities from Gujarat and Diu, Union Territory, held a press conference in Ahmedabad, urging the Union Government to take proactive measures to secure the release of Indian fishermen currently detained in Pakistan. Presently, 217 Indian fishermen, mostly from Gujarat and Diu, are held in Pakistan’s Malir Jail. Of these, 53 have been incarcerated since 2021 and 130 since 2022.

34 Dalit families in IIT Kanpur without toilets in Open Defecation Free India

By Sandeep Pandey   When Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur was set up in 1959, two villages were uprooted. The farmers were given meagre compensation for the standing crop. No compensation was given for the land to build this institute of national importance. Each family was promised a job but what was not told to them was that one would require specialised skills to get a job at IIT. Some members of these families were, of course, absorbed for menial work. Some washerfolk families were also invited from outside to live on campus to take care of the laundry needs of students, staff and faculty members. One of these men was cajoled by IIT authorities then to forego a regular employment at IIT and instead take up clothes washing work.

अल्पसंख्यक कार्य मंत्रालय का बजट निराशाजनक: 19.3% अल्पसंख्यकों के लिए मात्र 0.0661% ठोस आवंटन

- मुजाहिद नफ़ीस*   1-2-2025 को भारत सरकार द्वारा संसद में वर्ष 2025-26 का बजट वित्त मंत्री निर्मला सीतारमण जी ने पेश किया| इस वर्ष का बजट 5065345 करोड़ है जो कि पिछले साल के संशोधित अनुमान से लगभग 7.39% की बढ़ोतरी हुई है| वहीं अल्पसंख्यक कार्य मंत्रालय का बजट मात्र 3350.00 करोड़ है जो कि कुल बजट का 0.0661% लगभग है|  पिछले साल 2024-25 में 3183.24 करोड़ था|

जाति-व्यवस्था, पितृ सत्ता, धार्मिक अंधविश्वास, पाखंड, लैंगिक असमानता, छुआछूत, सामाजिक भेदभाव पर पेरियार के तार्किक विचार

- जर्नादन रविदास   प्रमोद रंजन द्वारा संपादित पुस्तक ‘जाति-व्यवस्था और पितृसत्ता’ भारत का सुकरात कहे जाने वाले ई. वी. रामास्वामी पेरियार के इस विषय पर केंद्रित लेखों और भाषणों का संग्रह है। इस पुस्तक में हम पेरियार के बहुत ही तार्किक विचारों को पाते हैं। मसलन, पेरियार का कहना है कि “मैं विवाह या शादी जैसे शब्दों से सहमत नहीं हूं। मैं इसे केवल जीवन में साहचर्य के लिए एक अनुबंध मानता हूं।” इसी तरह वे कहते हैं कि “जो आदमी ईश्वर और धर्म में विश्वास रखता है, वह आजादी हासिल करने की कभी उम्मीद नहीं कर सकता।”