Asbestos History Repeating Itself?

Posted By: William Hobhouse
Date Posted: 01/06/2009

As someone who was not involved with the way T&N managed to continue manufacturing asbestos long after the terrible dangers were well known, it came as a great shock to find history repeating itself the other side of the world.

The visit of Laurie Kazan Allen to Rochdale put into sharp focus how asbestos factories continue to operate in India and Pakistan while those country’s governments turn a blind eye. It begs the question as to why asbestos, which is a banned material in the EU, continues to be approved for manufacture and use in the poorer parts of the world.

She told the meeting how asbestos is still being mined in Russia, China, Zimbabwe and Canada. For those who watched Slum Dog Millionaire, the roofing materials used in the slums is asbestos sheeting. It’s terrible to see Rochdale’s history repeat itself: 30 years of corporate denial, and 30 more years of mesothelioma.

Why don’t India and Pakistan ban the import and use of asbestos? The same reasons that the UK didn’t. The winning of the argument by the businesses involved and the losing of the argument by health campaigners.

The other return visitor to Rochdale was Dr Deleuil, from the university of Western Australia in Perth. Western Australia has a recently abandoned asbestos mine, and the legacy of it is terrible. The only temporary solution seems to be a cordon sanitaire for miles around, excluding any people from coming near the site.

It’s becoming clear to me that the debate being fought out over the TBA site will set the agenda in the UK and further afield for the next generation. Will we end up compromising on safety, fudging the risks, being unclear with the science? What is safe levels of asbestos in the ground? Paul Rowen’s been asking this question for years in Parliament, but the Environment Agency has remained quiet.

Maybe it’s up to us in Rochdale to set the squeaky clean standard.