Many hazardous substances have been placed on a global blacklist through the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (Rotterdam Convention) yet asbestos is still blocked from being added to the list, mostly due to Canada’s continued support of its use.
Exposure to asbestos causes thousands every year to die throughout the world, and yet the manufacture, distribution and unprotected use of this deadly substance continue, especially in developing countries. Solid medical and scientific evidence shows that exposure to asbestos, even a single incidence of exposure, can lead to mesothelioma, a painful cancer with no cure, yet there is still no international ban on the use of asbestos.
Although the Rotterdam Convention does not necessarily cause an international ban on the use of hazardous substances and industrial chemicals, it can add them to a global “blacklist” of materials known to cause serious harm. Once blacklisted, the Convention creates a legally binding obligation for the implementation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure, which dictates if and how a substance can be used so that human health and the environment are protected.
If the chemical is added to the list, called the Annex, then a document is created that gives information about the chemical and any decisions to ban or restrict the substance due to health or environmental reasons, and this is then circulated to all the parties. After nine months, the parties will decide one of three things:
allow continued importation,disallow importation, orallow importation but only under certain strict safety conditions.So what has held up asbestos from being added to this list and importation banned or at least allowed but only with strict protective conditions? The fact that the decision to do so has to be unanimous, and so far Canada continues to support the use and prevents the majority (90%) from being able to make this happen.
Once again, asbestos is one of the chemicals being considered for the upcoming Convention in Geneva, Switzerland in June of this year. Attempts were made three years ago to get Chrysotile asbestos, the main type still in use and still being mined by Canada, added to the Prior Informed Consent list but were unsuccessful due to a few asbestos stakeholders who withheld consent. Another attempt is being made this year; however hopes of success are not high as Canada is adamant about allowing importation and use of chrysotile asbestos.
Organizations and individuals worldwide who have personally or professionally seen the effects of asbestos have taken a stand against the continued use of this deadly substance. Many have lobbied, organized, and raised funds to stop production, importation and use of asbestos containing products. Decades of research attest to how dangerous asbestos is, how fatal the results of exposure. The question ultimately, as with so many other things where lives are at stake, is when will those in power put the value of human life above a profit margin?
For more on this, read our headline article: International Skepticism About Placing Asbestos on the Global Blacklist
This entry was posted on Friday, January 21st, 2011 at 3:47 pm and is filed under Asbestos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
