Romana Blasotti Pavesi, leader of Eternit asbestos victims wished to look into the eyes of Stephan Schmidheiny, Yale awarded asbestos billionaire

Romana Blasotti Pavesi passed away on Wednesday, September the 11th,  in the early hours of the afternoon. She was 95 years old, her last birthday had been on the 3rd of March 2024. In 1988 she was appointed president of Afled (Association of Families of Deceased Eternit Workers) which, changed its name to Afeva (Association of Families and Victims of Asbestos) in 1998. She remained president until 2015, then was made honorary president. 

She was succeeded by Beppe Manfredi (who died of mesothelioma the following year), with Giovanni Cappa as vice-president. He too suffered from the same disease, and died in 2020. Since 2016, Giuliana Busto, sister of Piercarlo Busto, aka il Pica, a well-known Casale athlete who was struck down by the same disease at the age of 33, has been president of Afeva. Romana Blasotti Pavesi was made of Commendatore della Repubblica (Order to the Merit of the Republic) for her great commitment in seeking justice and truth as president of the Associazione di familiari e vittime amianto (Afeva - Association of asbestos relatives and victims). The rosary will be this evening, Thursday 12 September, at 7pm, in Casale Monferrato, in the Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In the same church, the funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday 13 September, at 2.45pm. The councillors of the ‘Casale davvero’  coalition have petitioned the mayor Emanuele Capra to proclaim a day of city mourning on the occasion of the funeral: ‘We are talking about - they write in the request, also subscribed by the city's PD (Democratic Party) - a person who was a symbol, in Italy and around the world, of the struggle against asbestos and who was able to communicate to the younger generations his intimate suffering with a spirit of resilience and a very strong charge of positivity inspired by a sublime humanity’. Mayor Capra and City Council President Giovanni Battista Filiberti welcomed the proposal: ‘A dutiful initiative that unites all political forces, associations and city associations’. Tomorrow, a minute's silence will be observed at the inauguration of the Wine Festival.

'Shame on you! We are more than you are!’ She shouted this to the whole of Italy, in those difficult and painful days when the people of Casale were faced with a terrible choice, which, at the time, I called ‘the devil's offer’ in ‘La Stampa’ . Reminiscent of childhood catechism: ‘The devil,’ the parish priest had warned us, ‘presents himself in disguise, he attracts you by showing only the beautiful and shiny side, but, beware, he will deceive you’. That offer of money, made by the main defendant in the Eternit maxi-trial to silence the voice of the municipality of Casale Monferrato, would have meant abandoning any civil action in exchange that is, forcing Municipality would no longer, or ever again, represent the community tormented by asbestos: that is why I called it the devil’s offer.  Many people were upset, Romana was upset. She was not at peace. In fact, she was very angry. ‘The Swiss, as he was known,  did a shameful thing: he behaved in the same devious way just like asbestos did killing people, by killing at random,’ she had told ‘La Stampa’ on the eve of the verdict of the court of first instance.

In the meantime, the municipality had re-evaluated the initial temptations and rejected the offer. ‘I thank Health Minister Balduzzi and that large part of the city that showed a deep civic sense,’ Romana Blasotti Pavesi said. ‘Had it been accepted, I would have personally felt ashamed to present myself to the magistrates who have worked so many years to reach this moment. Today, instead, I feel proud.

The national media, newspapers and TV stations were interested in the case. It was the late autumn of 2011. On December the 20th, journalist and anchorman Gad Lerner, had dedicated an episode to the storm unleashed by the ‘devil's offer’, with studio guests and an external link to a large group of people of Casale. Romana was in the front row. They put a microphone in front of her. Her voice thundered: ‘Shame on you!’, an attack against those who were against accepting the ‘offer/pact’. She shouted for everyone: for those who had died and for those who, while still alive, mourned their dead, and for those who, while still alive, were already suffering from mesothelioma. ‘there are more of us than of you,’ she shouted to make the air vibrate!’

Dr Daniela Degiovanni, who had shared decades of life, struggle and confidences with Romana, squeezed her arm. She confided later: ‘I was afraid she was going to have a heart attack’.

Romana’s powerful voice was one of her distinguishing features, along with her sky blue eyes, which could be as bright as aquamarine or as icy as a glacier, set in a face that all that  of suffering had turned into carved stone.

Her heart  was made of a special material, I cannot say how, nor why but it could not otherwise have withstood the blows fiercely inflicted by fate. One day she said: ‘I had even thought that my family had fallen the victim of an evil spell’. Romana buried her husband Mario, a former Eternit worker, in 1983, her sister Libera, in 1989, her nephew Enrico Malavasi (50, Libera's son), in 2003, her cousin Anna, and her daughter Maria Rosa, in 2004. For all of them, only one culprit: mesothelioma caused by asbestos. At the beginning of this year, yet another loss when her son Ottavio also predeceased her.

She had become president of Afeva, the Casale association of the families and victims of asbestos, in 1988. Mario had died and she couldn't come to terms with it: not with the mourning, a burden she carried intimately without exposing it out of modesty and reserve; what she couldn't come to terms with was that people died because of their work. Like Mario, other husbands, and wives, and children, and siblings. An unbearable injustice. They offered her the role to represent them. She thought about it for a moment, then said: ‘I don't know if I am able, but if you help me, I am ready to fight’. She did so, and remained the president for almost thirty years, with integrity and without relenting, flanked and supported by what she called her guardian angels: Bruno Pesce and Nicola Pondrano. She listened, she documented, she read a lot, she asked to know what was happening. She went where needed: to speak, to testify, to spur people on. She was especially keen to speak to youngsters: ‘We,’ he would say, ‘have come this far, and, mind you, we have done a lot. But it's not over. Now it is your turn to continue. She gave a stern warning: ‘You must fight, until we have justice!’ 

She wore the slogan ‘Eternit Justice’ proudly: printed on the three coloured (Italian) flag that flew on her terrace, in via Cavalcavia, and on the yellow badge pinned to her shirt.

The night before the hearing in which the court presided over by Giuseppe Casalbore would read the first-degree verdict of the Eternit maxi-trial, in Turin, Romana was restless. ‘I'm an optimist, but I can’t hide my level of anxiety,’ she confided, ‘I've taken a few drops of sleeping pill’. But she reacted: ‘I don't want to let fear get the better of me, I want to think that our wait for justice will be rewarded. Who knows, maybe I will finally be able to cry again'. 

She had stopped crying long before the trial, because she said her supply of tears had been completely exhausted when her daughter Maria Rosa had told her mother that she too was ‘sick like dad’. Mesothelioma. That ‘she was so beautiful Maria Rosa, and had beautiful hair. And she was so young'. When she died, she was 50 years old. Maria Rosa left behind a son Michele, who in turn had a daughter, Francesca, now 12 years old: she adored her great grandmother Romana who looked after her when she was a little child.

At the trial, Romana Blasotti Pavesi told her story which travelled the world: all over Europe, in Brazil, in the United States, in Canada, in Japan and even in the villages of the Amazon: ‘Romana you are great, Romana you are strong’ they wrote there. The world knew that emblematic story that was a copy of the pain of hundreds, thousands of other lives similarly killed by the dust, pouvri as it was known in the local dialect. The days before speaking as a witness, she could not enter the courtroom, as is the rule. So she was forced to wait outside, she could only know what was going on inside through the stories of others. A soul in pain, pacing up and down the corridors, at times sitting on the benches to give her aching legs a rest.

Then, on the day of that first verdict, 13 February 2012, she stood up and held Degio’s hand as the oncologist Daniela Degiovanni who has ‘seen’ and treated so many patients was known locally. She closed his eyes, perhaps wondering if all that could be done had been done, or perhaps recalling all the names and faces she had promised she would fight for justice.

In the years that followed there was an Appeal Trial and then the Court of Cassation in Rome. That morning she was more than anxious: Romana was restless. In the afternoon, when all that had to be said had been said, she fell silent in the long wait.

We were sitting on an uncomfortable bench, a little out of the way, side by side, in semi-darkness, speechless, our eyes pointed at the floor, stubbornly not letting ourselves be carried away by any temptation to make predictions. At a certain point of the evening, the signal came: we were called into the large and sumptuous courtroom and the Court of Cassation ruled on the statute of limitations. Everything was quashed, cancelled. An uproar followed, indignant voices. I looked for her in the confusion and found her, standing in that hidden corner we had occupied while waiting. Her gaze was bewildered and dry. ‘We fought so hard to get to this result?’ she whispered. Her son Octavius dragged her away because she was too tired. The next day, with lucidity she commented: ‘The Cassation decided this way because they don't know the history of Casale’. She meant that those judges, so far from here, do not know the constant fear of falling ill, the anguish of those who fall ill, the suffering of those who remain. And yet, she did not feel defeated: ‘We’, she said resolutely, ‘we have convinced the world that we are right’. Bruised, but not bent. One day she said to Mayor Titti Palazzetti: ‘When are we going to inaugurate the park where the factory once stood? It took so long to reclaim it, decontaminate and tear it down, now it's time to transform it'. We had been there, together, visiting the abandoned plant still standing, many years before, in an autumn dusk that made the place look even more gloomy. There was a small group of us trade unionists, former workers and family members of workers, together with Dr Luigi Mara who had asked and obtained permission to make an inspection. We wore masks and puffy white overalls; we looked like ghosts immersed in a greenish semi-darkness. Someone had a torch and shone it on the walls or against broken glass. Romana wanted to know where Mario had worked, ‘this was his shopfloor ‘explained one. She insisted on seeing the ‘Kremlin’, a bad place in the basement, where the dust felt like you were eating it, not just breathing it. ‘That's where it was,‘ said those who had worked there, “they used to send those who were considered the ”hotheads’ who had perhaps complained about the working conditions.’ And Romana looked out at a gaping hole in the floor that was lost in a black, bleak, breathless background. 

Mayor Palazzetti had promised Romana that the Eternot Park would be finished. And so it was, in September 2016, in the presence and with the blessing of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The park has an athletics track, lawns and plants, benches and games for children. There is also a living monument, created by the artist Gea Casolaro, the Davidia involucrata nursery: the so-called ‘handkerchief plants’, constantly cared for by a group of volunteers, the prize called the Eternot Nursery Prize awarded every year. 

Another monument, by artist Italietta Carbone, was also inaugurated: it depicts a little girl running while flying a kite, the symbol of a free soul. Everyone calls it ‘Romana's kite’: Romana, the girl from Slovenia who arrived in Casale at the age of seventeen and who, maintaining her free and indomitable spirit, shaped so much of this town’s history.

Respectful and polite at all times (she greeted and shook hands with the defenders of the Swiss defendant with sincere politeness, because ‘we are adversaries, not enemies’), she never lowered her gaze, convinced and proud of advancing a just cause. She would have liked to come face to face with the Swiss entrepreneur. ‘I would like to look him in the eye and ask him why...’. but Stephan Schmidheiny (in picture), the Yale University awarded asbestos billionaire  decided not to ever come forward. If he had done so, if he had found the courage to peer into Romana's sky blue eyes, he would have understood what his only path to salvation was and is: financing a treatment, the  cure. He could still do it, somewhere Romana would hear about it and she could finally weep with relief, freely.

by Silvana MOSSANO

Translation by Vicky Franzinetti

Also read:The asbestos victims of Eternit – in pictures

 Alumni ask Yale to revoke honorary degree 

 Lessons for India from Swiss asbestos tycoon found guilty for causing death of 392 people

 

ETERNIT APPEAL OF COURT OF ASSIZES: Silvana MOSSANO

Eternit Bis trial, act two. Specifically, this is the second act of the “Casale branch” of the Eternit Bis judicial case: the case against defendant Stephan Schmidheiny will be heard by the Court of Assize of Appeal for the second-degree assizes trial. Prosecutors reiterated the charge of the murder (omicidio doloso) of some 400 residents from the town Casale and the province of Monferrato killed by mesothelioma as a result of inhaling asbestos fiber from the Eternit plant. The Swiss businessman Schmidheiny is the last living Eternit owner. He will be 78 years old at the end of October. The Eternit Bis appeal trial will begin on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in Maxi Courtroom 1 at the Turin courthouse. The courtroom is well known to the Casale community, who attended the hearings of the so-called Eternit Maxi-trial 1 (held between December 2009 and June 2013) in which Schmidheiny and up to a point Belgian co-defendant Louis de Cartier, subsequently deceased, was tried for another crime:willful disaster caused by asbestos used in Eternit's production cycle. The Casale plant was operational for 80 years, including 10 years between 1976 and 1986, when the Swiss industrialist was at the head of the international industrial giant. Schmidheiny was convicted in the court and appeal (sentenced to 18 years) for the disaster. The Court of Cassation quashed the verdict because of the statute of limitations without acquitting the defendant.

The Turin prosecutor's office later filed the Eternit Bis case, no longer as an intentional disaster, but as voluntary manslaughter referring to individual cases of mesothelioma deaths. The proceedings were then heard as four cases according to the location of the victims. The largest one, for 392 deaths in Casale and the surrounding Monferrato towns, was heard at Vercelli Court of Assizes. Unlike the Turin Public Prosecutor, the Vercelli investigating magistrate reiterated the charge of willful murder and remanded the defendant for trial before the Novara Assize Court.

The verdict was read on June 7, 2023: the crime was downgraded from willful to unintentional to culpable, with aggravating circumstances in certain cases - of willful knowledge. The defendant was sentenced to 12 years for a number of victims, acquitted for others; other cases fell under the statute of limitations. 

Below is the link to the report on the sentencing already published by the trial court on this site.
https://www.silmos.it/schmidheiny-colpevole-inflitti-12-anni-per-plurimi-omicidi-colposi/

Both prosecutors Gianfranco Colace and Mariagiovanna Compare and defense attorneys Astolfo Di
Amato and Guido Carlo Alleva appealed the verdict.
Now comes the appeal court proceeding at the Turin Court of Appeal. In addition to Nov. 13, five
subsequent hearing dates have been set: Nov. 20 and 21, Dec. 4, 11 and 18.

[PREVIOUS REPORTS ON THE VERDICT AND GROUNDS FOR APPEAL
(links below are all to Italian and English translation)

Dec. 5, 2023 with the grounds for the judgment handed down by the Novara Assize Court (following
the judgment on June 7, 2023)
- https://www.silmos.it/in-oltre-mille-pagine-la-corte-dassise-spiega-perche-ha-condannato-schmidheiny/
- January 16, 2024 with the announcement that the judgment would be appealed

- https://www.silmos.it/eternit-bis-si-impugna-la-sentenza-di-primo-grado-il-processo-ora-va-in-corte-
dassise-dappello/

- on February 19, 2024 with two separate articles each containing the respective grounds of appeal by
the prosecutors and defense counsel.

- https://www.silmos.it/eternit-bis-anche-la-pubblica-accusa-ha-impugnato-la-sentenza-della-corte-
dassise-ecco-i-motivi/

- https://www.silmos.it/eternit-bis-ecco-perche-i-difensori-di-schmidheiny-contestano-e-impugnano-la-
sentenza-dellassise/

THE APPEALS ADDRESSED TO SCHMIDHEINY - RESTORATIVE JUSTICE
Here are links to articles containing appeals to the philanthropic spirit of entrepreneur Stephan
Schmidheiny.

https://www.silmos.it/eternit-bis-la-lunga-attesa-del-verdetto-e-ora-signor-schmidheiny-compri-una-casa-
farmaceutica/

https://www.silmos.it/lettera-aperta-a-herr-stephan-schmidheiny-nella-giornata-delle-vittime-dellamianto/

Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry ignores verdicts of Supreme Court, WTO and WHO's recommendations on Asbestos

On May 21 2024, several newspapers reported the release of the Press Trust of India (PTI) about a notification titled 'Asbestos or Fibre Cement based Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024 ' issued by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India on March 6, 2024. Business Standard reported it under the title "Govt rolls out mandatory quality norms for asbestos cement products." The news report reads: "The government has issued mandatory quality norms for asbestos or fibre cement-based products to curb the import of sub-standard goods and boost domestic manufacturing."  

It is apparent that Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry is caught in a time warp. Indian government took a legally inconsistent position before the WTO's Appellate Body in the Chrysotile Asbestos case between European Communities and Canada. The Appelllate Body endorsed and upheld the decision to ban white chrysotile asbestos in April 2001. Government of India has not been able to revise its position in the light of the 24 page long Supreme Court's judgement in Consumer Education Resource Centre v. Union of India (1995).      

The central government has exempted micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the provisions of the notification Asbestos or Fibre Cement-based Products (Quality Control) Order, 2024, for specified periods.

https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/breather-for-msmes-on-asbestos-compliance-1316914?infinitescroll=1

The union government exempted micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from the provisions of the (Quality Control) Order, 2024 for a limited period. The micro units have been asked to comply with the Quality Control Order within 12 months of the issuance of the notification and small units have been given nine months. The ‘mirco’ and ‘small’ enterprises refers to those enterprises which are defined under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006. The exemption is also extended to the goods or articles manufactured domestically for the purpose of export.  

In the past, Business Standard published articles entitled Say no to white asbestos: It's time government bans production and use of this carcinogen and Thousands of people staged a "die-in" in Paris over authorities' failure to clear workplaces of asbestos, which can cause fatal respiratory diseases after long exposure. It also published an op-ed piece entitled Asbestos: Breathtaking Negligence on October 22, 2002 which pointed out that the Chrysotile Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers' Association (CACPMA), an association of large manufacturers insist asbestos is not a health hazard despite growing global evidence to the contrary. It referred to the September 2, 2002 issue of India Today which carried an advertorial from the CACPMA to inform the public that white chrysotile asbestos does not cause cancer. The op-piece underlined that this is far from the truth. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has categorically said, "there is practically no safe level of exposure or use of asbestos against cancer". It is apparent that CACPMA and non-editorial team of the newspaper prevailed upon Business Standard to remove the op-ed piece from its website.    

It reported about the recall of approximately 23,000 Great Wall and Chery motor vehicles with engine and exhaust gaskets containing asbestos which was being monitored by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). ACCC stated that the asbestos is bound into gaskets in the engine and exhaust system and does not present any risk to consumers during use of the vehicle. However, consumers should not perform do-it-yourself maintenance that might disturb these gaskets. 

 

It reported about evacuation from the press gallery and nearby rooms of US Senate because of possible asbestos exposure and the investigation in to the possible exposure after workers discovered a broken air duct above the press gallery. The Capitol's House side was temporarily closed because of a "potential release" during asbestos abatement work. 

 

It also reported about Indonesia's asbestos 'time bomb'.

The Economic Times also reported about the Quality Control Order, 2024.  Earlier, it reported a news story entitled "Asbestos mining: National Green Tribunal raps MoEF for vague response". It reported about the US asbestosis cases, wherein Dow Chmemicals Company is defending or settling the suits on behalf of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) as well as UCC’s subsidiary Amchem Products Limited, which UCC took over in 1977. It also reported that "Even as environmental protection agencies across the world are pushing for a complete ban on usage of asbestos in auto parts that put millions of auto technicians, repair mechanics and commuters at risk of contracting fatal diseases, India's environment ministry has claimed to be unaware of the problem in absence of any specific study on the issue." It pointed out that the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in India had spoken about hazards of asbestos use in its report in 2008. Its observation got a mention in the environment ministry's environmental impact assessment (EIA) guidance manual on asbestos based industries in 2010. But, it does not appear to get a traction beyond controlling emission limits in organised industries. Asked how does the ministry monitor the use of asbestos in the country, the ministry said, "Implementation of emission limits of asbestos fibres from the stack, notified under the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, for industries uses asbestos is carried out by the concerned State Pollution Control Boards".

 

Khabar Infra reported "India tweak norms to boost asbestos production; 70 countries ban it". In the past, it has published an article entitled "J&J’s decision may curb talcum powder, asbestos items’ production".

Even as environmental protection agencies across the world are pushing for a complete ban on usage of asbestos in auto parts that put millions of auto technicians, repair mechanics and commuters at risk of contracting fatal diseases, India's environment ministry has claimed to be unaware of the problem in absence of any specific study on the issue.

While world rings asbestos alarm, India ignorant about cancer-causing agent

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/while-world-rings-asbestos-alarm-india-ignorant-about-cancer-causing-agent/articleshow/53361706.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

While world rings asbestos alarm, India ignorant about cancer-causing agent

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/healthcare/biotech/while-world-rings-asbestos-alarm-india-ignorant-about-cancer-causing-agent/articleshow/53361706.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

the US asbestosis cases, Dow is defending or settling the suits on behalf of Union Carbide as well as Carbide’s subsidiary Amchem Products Limited, which Carbide took over in 1977.

Read more at:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bhopal-gas-tragedy-dows-double-standards-exposed/articleshow/6124488.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Notably, prior to its reporting, the Quality Control Order was filed in the National Green Tribunal by India's Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association, which is registered as a "non-profit" society. The submission of the "non-profit" society refers to the 24 page long Supreme Court's judgement in Consumer Education Resource Centre v. Union of India but omits significant part of the directions with regard to ILO resolution concerning Asbestos and the compensation to the certified victims in order to mislead the National Green Tribunal. This dishonest and insincere approach of the asbestos companies and DGFASLI demonstrates "their pre-existing ideological commitment to support corporate interests over worker or community interests."  The Supreme Court's bench of Justices K Ramaswamy, Chief Justice A.M. Ahmadi and M.M. Punchhi had given given specific directions. It reads: “All the industries are directed 

(1) To maintain and keep maintaining the health record of every worker up to a minimum period of 40 years from the beginning of the employment or 15 years after retirement or cessation of the employment whichever is later;

(2) The Membrane Filter test, to detect asbestos fibre should be adopted by all the factories or establishments at par with the Metalliferrous Mines Regulations, 1961; and Vienna Convention and Rules issued thereunder;

(3)  All the factories whether covered by the Employees State Insurance Act or Workmen's Compensation Act or otherwise are directed to compulsorily insure health coverage to every worker;

(4) The Union and the State Governments are directed to review the standards of permissible exposure limit value of fibre/cc in tune with the international standards reducing the permissible content as prayed in the writ petition referred to at the beginning. The review shall be continued after every 10 yews and also as an when the I.L.O. gives directions in this behalf consistent with its recommendations or any Conventions;

(5) The Union and all the State Governments are directed to consider inclusion of such of those small scale factory or factories or industries to protect health hazards of the worker engaged in the manufacture of asbestos or its ancillary produce;

(6) The appropriate Inspector of Factories in particular of the State of Gujarat, is directed to send all the workers, examined by the concerned ESI hospital, for re-examination by the National Institute of Occupational Health to detect whether all or any of them are suffering from asbestosis. In case of the positive Ending that all or any of them ant suffering from the occupational health hazards, each such worker shall be entitled to compensation in a sum of rupees one lakh payable by the concerned factory or industry or establishment within a period of three months from the date of certification by the National Institute of Occupational Health." This land mark judgement recognized right to health as part of the fundamental right to life.

The members of the India's Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association have not been complying with these directions of the Supreme Court. They are trying to mislead the Tribunal by withholding the full text of the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court which has recognised right to health as part of fundamental right to health.

The word "Asbestos" has become so notorious that Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association has changed its name to hide the word "Asbestos". Now it calls itself "Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association"! But in their naked lust for profit they will have present and future generations of Indians and residents in India including the foreign embassies and foreign visitors whose countries have banned all kinds of asbestos, that foreign asbestos is “safe”. Notably, the government of India has banned mining of all kinds of asbestos due to its harmful effect on human health. The Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association will have media, legislatures and courts and residents of India believe that Indian asbestos is unsafe, hazardous, poisonous and harmful but asbestos from Russia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and China is safe, non-hazardous, non-poisonous and harm free.

BANI’s work is dedicated to the implementation of the Court’s directions and the recommendations of ILO and WHO to prevent preventable diseases and preventable deaths by prevention of asbestos trade, manufacture and use. It demands revision of the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 which declare manufacture, handling and processing of Asbestos and its products as Hazardous Process but do not impose ban on manufacture, handling and processing of asbestos and asbestos based products. It seeks amendment in the Schedule XIV, Section 87 of the Factories Act which deals Dangerous Operation of “Handling and Processing of Asbestos, Manufacture of any Article or Substance of Asbestos and any other Process of Manufacture or otherwise in which Asbestos is used in any Form’ to ensure that India supports listing of chrysotile asbestos under list of hazardous substances as per UN’s Rotterdam Convention.

BANI has  demanded cancellation of all the environmental clearances and No Objection Certificates given to asbestos based factories and ban on all asbestos based products. It seeks legal and medical relief for the victims of incurable asbestos related diseases caused by primary and secondary exposure. It wants asbestos free schools and hospitals, asbestos free powder, asbestos free water supply pipes and asbestos free vehicles. It demands decontamination of all the public and private buildings including foreign embassies which are ridden with asbestos fibers. The decision making with regard to asbestos must be shifted from the commerce ministry, a promoter of trade in asbestos, to the health ministry, a regulator of health hazards. The latter must be empowered to ensure that it gives precedence to public health.

BANI joined the protest of villagers in Bihar and Odisha against asbestos based factories. It led to stoppage of five factories in Bihar and one in Odisha. Bihar Chief Minister assured the State Assembly on July 1, 2019 that such plants will not be allowed in the State. It is significant that despite the assurance two units of asbestos based factories of Chennai based Ramcoe Industries Ltd are operating in Bihiya, Bhojpur, Bihar with environmental clearance and NOC for one unit. It is noteworthy that it is admitted that Fibre Reinforced Cement Products Subcommittee for BIS standards includes asbestos companies like Ramco Industries Ltd, Hyderabad Industries Ltd, Eternit Everest Industries Ltd.,  Kalani Asbestos Cement Pvt Ltd. and Shri Digvijay Cement Co Ltd. in the affidavit filed by Asbestos "Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association" before the Principal Bench of the National Green Tribunal. It is a classic case of culprits of environmental and public health crimes setting up norms and standards for their own regulation! 

     

Journey of Asbestos free India Campaign, 22 Years of struggle to make India free from asbestos related diseases

Position Paper

April 2024

Chronology of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)'s work (April 2002-April 2024)

2001: Prior to the formation of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), its co-founder wrote about adoption of WTO’s Appellate Body’s report on European Communities-Measures Affecting Asbestos and Asbestos-Containing Products by WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body and the Report of WTO’s Dispute Resolution Panel, as modified by the Appellate Body report at its meeting on 5 April, 2001. It made it clear on 11 April, 2001 that the report of the Dispute Resolution Panel should be read in conjunction with the Appellate Body’s report. Asbestos producers like Canada lost the case for continued trade in white chrysotile asbestos, a carcinogenic mineral fiber. India took a position inconsistent with the judgement of the Supreme Court of India at the WTO. WTO’s Tribunal’s findings were reported by him as White ruling:France wins a landmark ruling on asbestos against Canada. Co-founder of BANI has submitted his LL.M. dissertation entitled: “Role and functions of the WTO Tribunal in the Asbestos Case: A review with special reference to the position of India and Brazil”.  

April 2002: BANI was formed on April 22 to work with concerned villagers, city folks, peoples movements, doctors, researchers and activists besides trade unions, human rights, environmental, consumer and public health groups for asbestos free India. BANI seeks accountability from public institutions, criminal liability for companies besides preventive and medico-legal remedies for victims of asbestos related diseases. BANI is working for the implementation of Indian Supreme Court’s judgement of 1995 which deals with asbestos related diseases, compensation and ILO’s resolutions. It follows a trail of exposure, which extends the chain of carcinogenic risk beyond the workplace regardless of location of exposure.

September 2003: BANI attended three day international conference on Canadian Asbestos: A Global Concern in Ottawa, Canada. BANI expressed its support for the listing of chrysotile on UN’s Rotterdam Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Convention because it alerts potential importers that chrysotile asbestos is a known cancer-causing agent, which poses a risk even at very low levels. Down To Earth acknowledged BANI’s work. Toxics Dispatch publishes White asbestos: the silent killer.

 

BANI Condemns Indian Government's Double Speak on Asbestos

 

2004: BANI presented a paper entitled “The Plight of Asbestos Victims in India” on the plight of workers at the Global Asbestos Conference 2004 held at Tokyo from November 19 through 21, 2004, with an attendance of about 800 people, including 120 from 40 countries and regions overseas. Tokyo Declaration was adopted in view of the devastating health effects of all forms of asbestos. A Joint Declaration from the International Building Trade Union Federations including the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW), the World Federation of Building Workers (WFBW) and the International Union of Building and Wood Workers (UITBB) was made at the Global Asbestos Congress, Tokyo to actively promote the global ban of all forms of asbestos from the construction industry and from all other industrial sectors, and to promote the effective regulation of work with in -situ asbestos in demolition, conversion, renovation and maintenance works by law.

 

International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) acknowledged BANI’s work in its report entitled Indian Tax Breaks for Asbestos Producers.  

Business Standard publishes Say no to white asbestos

2005: Dr. Barry Castleman’s book Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects refers to BANI’s work. Down To Earth cites BANI’s position on asbestos.

Toxics Dispatch publishes Asbestos kills everyone but us

 

2006: Frontline published Killer mineral acknwledging BANI’s work.

 

Chrysotile asbestos: hazardous to humans, deadly to the Rotterdam Convention published by the Building & Woodworkers International and the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. It includes a chapter entitled India’s Position on Chrysotile Asbestos Dictated by Vested Interests!  

BANI’s article entitled “White asbestos, a health time bomb” published. BANI pointed out that Alang ship-breakers disabled by asbestos.

2007: Parliament publishes report of Parliamentary Petitions Committee on entry of asbestos laden end-of-life ship in Indian territorial waters. The Parliamentary Committee recommended that the Ministry should “strongly campaign to create awareness amongst the people about the ill affects of asbestos.”  

BANI’s submission to Independent Peoples Tribunal on the World Bank Group on the subject of “Continued trade and use of asbestos in India and World Bank”

BANI opposed the proposal to lift the ban on mining of asbestos, the cancer causing mineral fiber. Asbestos Free India journal (www.asbestosfreeindia.org) arrives in cyberspace.

2008: Asbestos in modern times: Industrial production, processing, prohibition, substitution and disposal, the book by Wolfgang E. Höper acknowledges BANI’s work. 

BANI co-published India’s Asbestos Time Bomb book and contributed a chapter in it. BANI’s write-up entitled “A government under an asbestos roof” published in Indian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and available at https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/57729/1/oe08014.pdf 

2009: BANI’s co-founder interviewed for 2009 documentary Asbestos: Canada's Dirty Secret by CBC, a Canadian public broadcast service. 

2010: German Radio refers to BANI’s work in its story entitled New revelations about asbestos use in India.

As a consequence of Supreme Court verdict of 1995, the occupational health surveillance program was to include exposure data at each pertinent work place, periodical examination of workers, X-ray examination for radiological changes, lung function test for restrictive disorder and clinical examination for early detection of signs of asbestosis and other asbestos related diseases like mesothelioma and lung cancer. These tests are to be recorded for pre-employment, periodic surveillance and at cessation of employment as per the concerned state government regulations. BANI exposed the preparation of the conflict-of-interest ridden Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guidance Manual– Asbestos Based Industries published by the Ministry of Environment & Forests prepared by Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad. The role of V. Pattabhi, ex-Executive Committee Member, Asbestos International Association and ex-BIS Sectional Committee Member who “prepared the EIA guidance manual on Asbestos Based Industries” along with Mr. G Bala Subramanyam, Advisor, Environment Area, ASCI, Hyderabad makes the manual questionable and unreliable. Not surprisingly, the manual ignores specific directions of the Supreme Court with regard to ILO’s resolution and compensation to the victims of the asbestos related diseases. The EIA Guidance Manual ignores the recommendations of WHO on elimination of all kinds of asbestos including white chrysotile asbestos.

The Asia-Pacific Journal cites BANI’s work in its paper entitled “The Other Deadly White Dust: Russia, China, India and the Campaign to Ban Asbestos”.

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists interviews BANI and publishes a story entitled India's expanding use of asbestos brings dire warnings.  

2011: National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices on “Banning use of white asbestos”, to all states and territories along with several Union Ministries and asked them to file a status report on a complaint alleging that around 50,000 people die every year in the country due to asbestos related cancer. The complainant has also requested for grant of a compensation package for present and future victims of asbestos related diseases. The NHRC issued notices to secretaries of Ministries of Chemical Fertilizers, Environment and Forest, Health and Family Welfare, Industry and Commerce, Labour and Chief Secretaries of the States on 28/06/2011.

Nine Left parties organize ‘Mahadharna’ in support of ban on asbestos plants

Andhra Pradesh High Court decided case related to Google India Pvt. Ltd. vs. Visaka Industries Limited

Inter Press Service cities BANI's role in anti-asbestos struggle in Bihar in its story entitled INDIA: Agitation Challenges Asbestos Import

BANI’s struggle with Khet Bachao Jeewan Bachao Jansangharsh committee and Paryawarn Bachao  Jeewan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti  in  the  remote villages  of Bihar led to the stoppage of the  following asbestos based plants in Bihar:

1. Tamil Nadu based Nibhi Industries Pvt. Ltd’s Plant at Giddha, Ara, Bhojpur

2. Telangana based Hyderabad Industries Ltd’s plant at Kumarbagh Industrial Area, West Champaran 

3. West Bengal based Balmukund Cement & Roofings Ltd’s plant at Chainpur-Bishunpur, Marwan, Muzaffarpur

4. West Bengal based Utkal Asbestos Limited (UAL)’s Plant at Goraul, Vaishali

5. Rajasthan based A Infrastructure Ltd’s  Plant at Pandaul Industrial Area, Madhubani

Bloomberg publishes In India, Slum Roofing Is Cheap—and Deadly acknowledges BANI’s position.  

New Delhi Declaration seeking elimination of all forms of Asbestos including Chrysotile from India adopted on March 24, 2011. It was endorsed by Prof (Dr) Arthur Frank, Professor, Dr Alec Farquhar, Professor Elihu D Richter, Dr Yael Stein, Dr Lyle Hargrove, Prof (Dr) Qamar Rahman and Dr. T.K. Joshi.

2012: NHRC sought additional information on 05/03/2012, 21/05/2012, 30/07/2012, 15/10/2012, 31/12/2012, 08/04/2013 from the Chief Secretary of all the States regarding banning white chrysotile asbestos. NHRC's order dated 15/10/2012 reveals that "Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association has desired to appear before the National Human Rights Commission to present their case. Registry to inform the Association to appear before the Commission on 31st December, 2012".

The Hindu publishes “Invader in white”citing BANI’s work.

Odisha village wins case against Visaka Industries' asbestos plant, district administration approves Parmanpur panchayat’s decision to cancel no objection certificate to the company.  

Patna Declaration seeking environmental, occupational health infrastructure and prohibition on all forms of asbestos based products was adopted on December 24, 2012.

2013: NHRC called for additional information from Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association on 05/08/2013. 

Down To Earth acknowledges BANI’s co-founder in India reverses stand on asbestos at Rotterdam Convention meet: Opposes its inclusion in prior informed consent list; campaigners accuse industry lobby of influencing government

 Business Standard quotes BANI in its story on ship breaking  

2014: Industrial Material, a book referred to BANI’s work.

2015: The Dollar Business publishes the interview of BANI’s co-founder.

2016: Cases of Conflict: Transboundary Disputes and the Development of International Environmental Law, by Allen L. Springer published by University of Toronto Press acknowledges BANI’s work.

The Asian Age reports Bihar revokes clearance for asbestos factories

NHRC's order dated August 8, 2016 referred to a meeting by Ananth Kumar, the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (26 May 2014 – 12 November 2018). The order reads: “Pursuant to the directions of the Commission, Dr.Rohit Misra, Assistant Industrial Advisor, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Deptt. of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Govt. of India vide letter dated 4th July, 2016 has informed the Commission that in order to take an appropriate and scientific stand in the International Forum on the issue related to health hazards posed by Chrysotile variety of Asbestos, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals had entrusted National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) to carry out a study on Health Hazards/Environmental Hazards resulting from the use of Chrysotile variety of Asbestos in the country. Later, with the approval of MoS (Ind. Charge) Chemicals & Fertilizers, it was decided to set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee for considering the issue of continuance or otherwise of the use of Chrysotile variety of asbestos in India, taking into account of NIOH report and other related issues. On 27.8.2014, a meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Minister (Chemicals & Fertilizer) to consider the NIOH report. It was decided in the meeting that the NIOH report does not indicate any significant health/environment hazards resulting from the use of Chrysotile asbestos under proper conditions, coupled with the fact that asbestos products are quite cost effective for use by the masses, India may not support the inclusion of Chrysotile in Annexure-III at the COP Meeting in 2015. In the light of the above report, no further action by the Commission is called for. The case is closed."

The complainant had drawn the attention of the NHRC " towards the death of approximately 50000 people every year in the country due to Asbestos related cancer. He has alleged that white Asbestos is a fibrous material used for building roofs and walls and various other forms. The complainant has sought Commission's intervention for a ban on the use of Chrysotile Asbestos(White Asbestos), which is hazardous for the health of people and causes various incurable diseases. Citing the contradictory position of the Government on the issue, he has alleged that though the mining of Asbestos has technically been banned by the government but it allows its import and that too from the countries which do not prefer its domestic use. The complainant has also requested for grant of a compensation package for present and future victims of Asbestos diseases." NHRC's order does not address these concerns.

BANI's co-founder gave a speech about ‘Asbestos Usages and Diseases in India’ a the 3rd International Conference on Occupational & Environmental Health was held during 23rd-25th September 2016 at National Institute of Health and Family Welfare (NIHFW), New Delhi (Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India). BANI's co-founder criticized the inconsistencies between various departments in India regarding asbestos, mainly labour, chemical and environment. The compensation is not properly given to the victims. He insisted that the buildings associated with asbestos must be registered and the register should be maintained. Shockingly, no building in India is asbestos free. Liabilities must be fixed on the industries to compensate workers and victims of ARDs and a fund must be established for the same. He regretted that the local & rules have not been updated to date and international standards. The organisations must be held criminally liable for any mishaps due to asbestos. He also spoke on "Status of enviro-occupational health of workers in hazardous industries: An inquiry into asbestos industry" in the session on Occupational Diseases.

The Supreme Court sought assistance from the Attorney General of India in a case involving the liability of intermediaries like Google, for the content posted on their sites by the account holders.The case pertained to the write-up by BANI. LiveLaw reported about the hearing in Google v. Visakha Industries Ltd. LiveLaw publishes interview of BANI’s co-founder.

2017: Parliament was informed that import of asbestos from countries like China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Brazil declined in the last three financial years on December 28, 2017. The import fell to 310000 tn in the financial year 2017. Total asbestos imports from Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, China and other countries dropped to 310,570 tonnes in 2016-17 from 396,470 tonne in 2014-15 and 355,660 tonnes in 2015-16. The import/export of asbestos mineral fiber is regulated through EXIM policy of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

LiveLaw published Calcutta High Court’s Order Paves Way For Asbestos Free West Bengal & India

BANI’s co-founder wrote an article entitled India must ban asbestos urgently.

Site Environmental & Remediation Services (SERS), an Australian entity cites BANI’s work in its How Different Countries Tackled the Asbestos Issue.

2018: Ananth Kumar (59), Union Minister (Chemicals & Fertilizer) who had chaired the meeting August 27, 2014 which decided that the NIOH report does not indicate any significant health/environment hazards resulting from the use of Chrysotile asbestos under proper conditions, died at Shankara cancer hospital in Bengaluru on November 12, 2018. He had been on the ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit for the last few days. Ananth Kumar was suffering from lung cancer and had returned from the US in October 2018 after treatment in New York. He was undergoing treatment in the UK as well. "He was in the advanced stage of lung cancer," said Dr. B. N. Srinath, an oncologist and managing trustee of the hospital and a close family friend.  His health deteriorated in the last seven months. The initial symptoms began with bouts of coughing in April, 2018. He had difficulty in translating the Prime Minister’s speech during an election rally as he was bogged down by coughing. The possibility of his lung cancer being linked to exposure to carcinogenic asbestos fibers has not been ruled out. In his early years, he used to live in a railway quarter which had asbestos roofs. Ananth Kumar's father Narayan Sastry was a railway employee. They were settled in Hubali for many years at MTS railway quarters for workers in 1970-80. He spent his childhood over there. He completed his matriculation in Lamington School and pre-university course in science P.C. Jabin College in Hubli. He earned bachelor's degree in arts from Kadasiddeshwar Arts College and in Law from JSS Law college, in Hubli.

 

Admittedly, the NIOH study which he had approved was co-sponsored by the chrysotile asbestos based companies and the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers. Its findings cannot be relied upon for the protection of public health. Statement of scientists dated March 21, 2015 on the ‘scientific’ study by NIOH entitled ‘Study of Health Hazards / Environmental hazards resulting from use of Chrysotile variety of Asbestos called on the Government of India to withdraw a discredited scientific study on chrysotile (white) asbestos and to stop blocking the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance at an upcoming UN meeting. The ‘Study of Health Hazards / Environmental hazards resulting from use of Chrysotile variety of Asbestos in the country’, carried out by the NIOH (India), states that it found no evidence that chrysotile asbestos is causing harm to the health of workers in India. “The study has no scientific credibility,” stated Dr. Philip Landrigan, President of the Collegium Ramazzini and Dean for Global Health, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York. “It is flawed in the design, methodology and interpretation of the results,” he added.

 

The statement pointed out that the photos in the study show some workers wearing a cotton scarf tied around their face as their only “safety equipment”.  The study also shows workers weaving asbestos cloth. This is one of the most hazardous uses of asbestos. The statement of scientists on the ‘scientific’ study reads: “We would like to strongly state that the ‘claim’ being made by the government of India regarding the ‘safety’ of Chrysotile asbestos is unacceptable to any credible scientists or scientific community. The world scientific community has overwhelmingly concluded that Chrysotile asbestos causes deadly diseases, such as asbestosis, mesothelioma and lung and other cancers, and that it cannot be safely used.” It concludes saying, “We therefore request the Government of India to withdraw the NIOH study, which does not hold up to any credible scientific scrutiny and do the right thing by supporting the listing of Chrysotile asbestos at the upcoming UN conference.” The Union Government has been using the study as the reason for continued trade, manufacture and use of all kinds of asbestos including white chrysotile asbestos and for opposing the listing of chrysotile asbestos under UN’s Rotterdam Convention.

BANI’s co-founder presented a paper entitled “Research on Chrysotile Asbestos: Failure of Ethics by National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)” at 14^th World Congress of Bioethics & 7th National Bioethics Conference in Bengaluru, Karnataka during 5-6 December, 2018. 

Hindustan Times story Railways are phasing out asbestos, a suspected health hazard  cites BANI's work.

On January 1, 2018, the Minister of Commerce and Industry was asked in the Lok Sabha as to whether the Ministry of Commerce & Industry has approached the Union Finance Ministry to provide incentives to the alternatives of asbestos in order to refrain from making asbestos artificially cheaper as has been done in the past. The minister replied in the negative.

2019: Unmindful of public health consequences, BANI pointed out that the irrationality of India being the biggest importer of Russian asbestos despite the fact that mining of Indian asbestos has been banned.

BANI’s co-founder spoke as a panelist on “Deadly Propaganda: Asbestos Imports, Use and Deaths” and on  “Breathless”, a Documentary Screening at George Washington University, Washington D.C. and at 15th Annual International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference of ADAO in the Session on Global Advocacy.

A book Asbestos: Inside and Outside, Toxic and Haptic published by Duke University Press cites BANI’s work.

2020: BANI disclosed the removal of its paper on the Union Government’s position on asbestos by the Labour Ministry. The paper was presented at India-EU Seminar 2011. Asbestos ridden talc powder withdrawn in North America, why not in India?

India remained the biggest importer of Russian asbestos disregarding scientific evidence and the recommendations of WHO under Russian influence.   

2021:"Study to understand functioning of companies’ response systems vis-à-vis key Human Rights violations available in Public Domain" by Partners in Change and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) cites BANI’s work. BANI’s co-founder spoke at the event of California based Asbestos Disease Awareness Organisation (ADAO) on The Global Asbestos Fight for Human Rights and Justice

2022: The Guardian story ‘We are all exposed to it’: the human face of India’s asbestos time bomb” acknowledges BANI’s work.

The news story by Al Jazeera "Why does India still use and trade asbestos?" refers to BANI's work 

Mongbay story entitled The ghost of asbestos mining continues to haunt this tribal village in Jharkhand cites BANI’s work. Asia News interviewed BANI’s co-founder for its story entitled “New Delhi still imports asbestos, risking 50,000 deaths a year”. National Human Right (NHRC)republished Scroll story Four decades on, a village in Jharkhand is still haunted by the ghost of asbestos mining.     

India is part of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity (IPEF) launched by USA in 2022 with 14 trading partners in Asia, Oceania and North America which will work to "prevent asbestos-related diseases and to promote transition from the use of asbestos to safer alternative products in IPEF supply chains.”

2023: The article entitled “Lessons for India from Swiss asbestos tycoon found guilty for causing death of 392 people” published.

2024: BANI’s co-founder wrote an article entitled “India 'continues' carcinogenic asbestos use, trade, manufacture amidst US import ban”. BANI revealed how the Government of India was fooled into buying asbestos laden property in Washington D.C. 

BANI’s struggle to save villagers from Tamil Nadu based Ramco Industries Ltd’s Plants at Industrial Area, Bihiya, Bhojpur, Bihar underway. Its two factories of 1,20,000 MT/Annum Capacity of Asbestos Cement Sheet Plant (with clearance) and 2 Lakh MT/Annum Capacity of Cement Grinding (without clearance) is functional despite Chief Minister’s promise for an asbestos factory free Bihar. The company gave Rs 5,000 for “Death of a dead worker”. It silenced the workerss protest. The villagers continue to suffers due to air pollution, water pollution and disposal of asbestos waste of the company.

BANI exposed the sophistry of Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association, a cartel of asbestos based companies which has referred to a “National Study on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Environment in Asbestos Cement Product Industries” covering 50 functional asbestos cement product industries of the country carried out by the Directorate General Factory Advice Service and Labour Institutes (DGFASLI) under the Ministry of Labour and Employment. This study found that out of 2603 workers, 10 cases were suspected cases of asbestos related disorders. This study came under scrutiny of a paper entitled “Analysis of the Indian Government’s position on the use of asbestos and its health effects” published in Public Health Action (June 21, 2023) by Dr. R. Singh and Prof. A. L. Frank. The paper concludes that the DGFASLI “study has some potential limitations, including the possibility that disease latency could be a factor, as the presence of disease may only be revealed decades after exposure. Furthermore, there appears to be no record of external peer review by an organisation outside the one conducting the study.”

BANI has pointed out that in its submission before the National Green Tribunal, India's Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association refers to judgement of 1995 by the Supreme Court in Consumer Education Resource Centre v. Union of India but omits significant part of the directions with regard to ILO resolution concerning Asbestos and the compensation to the certified victims in order to mislead the National Green Tribunal. This dishonest and insincere approach of the asbestos companies and DGFASLI demonstrates "their pre-existing ideological commitment to support corporate interests over worker or community interests."  The Supreme Court in Writ Petition (Civil) No.206 of 1986 had given the following directions on January 27, 1995. It reads: “All the industries are directed 

(1) To maintain and keep maintaining the health record of every worker up to a minimum period of 40 years from the beginning of the employment or 15 years after retirement or cessation of the employment whichever is later;

(2) The Membrane Filter test, to detect asbestos fibre should be adopted by all the factories or establishments at par with the Metalliferrous Mines Regulations, 1961; and Vienna Convention and Rules issued thereunder;

(3)  All the factories whether covered by the Employees State Insurance Act or Workmen's Compensation Act or otherwise are directed to compulsorily insure health coverage to every worker;

(4) The Union and the State Governments are directed to review the standards of permissible exposure limit value of fibre/cc in tune with the international standards reducing the permissible content as prayed in the writ petition referred to at the beginning. The review shall be continued after every 10 yews and also as an when the I.L.O. gives directions in this behalf consistent with its recommendations or any Conventions;

(5) The Union and all the State Governments are directed to consider inclusion of such of those small scale factory or factories or industries to protect health hazards of the worker engaged in the manufacture of asbestos or its ancillary produce;

(6) The appropriate Inspector of Factories in particular of the State of Gujarat, is directed to send all the workers, examined by the concerned ESI hospital, for re-examination by the National Institute of Occupational Health to detect whether all or any of them are suffering from asbestosis. In case of the positive Ending that all or any of them ant suffering from the occupational health hazards, each such worker shall be entitled to compensation in a sum of rupees one lakh payable by the concerned factory or industry or establishment within a period of three months from the date of certification by the National Institute of Occupational Health."  

The members of the India's Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association have not been complying with these directions of the Supreme Court. They are trying to mislead the Tribunal by withholding the full text of the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court which has recognised right to health as part of fundamental right to health.

The word "Asbestos" has become so notorious that Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association has changed its name to hide the word "Asbestos". Now it calls itself "Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association"! But in their naked lust for profit they will have present and future generations of Indians and residents in India including the foreign embassies and foreign visitors whose countries have banned all kinds of asbestos, that foreign asbestos is “safe”. Notably, the government of India has banned mining of all kinds of asbestos due to its harmful effect on human health. The Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association will have media, legislatures and courts and residents of India believe that Indian asbestos is unsafe, hazardous, poisonous and harmful but asbestos from Russia, Brazil, Kazakhstan and China is safe, non-hazardous, non-poisonous and harm free.

India is the world’s largest asbestos importer and consumer. As per United States Geological Survey, India used 408,000t in 2021 and 424,000t in 2022. As per Government of India, India imported 436,119t in 2021  and 403,292t in 2022. Indian Minerals Year Book reveals that although India banned mining of all kinds of asbestos including chrysotile asbestos due to its harmful health effect but it continues to import it from China besides Russia, Kazakhstan and Brazil unmindful of the fact that Brazilian court has banned its use in Brazil.

The Asbestos Fiber Cement Product Manufacturers Association will have all Indians believe that the governmental patronage they are enjoying is not linked to their donations to ruling parties under Section 182 of the Companies Act, 2013.

BANI’s work is dedicated to the implementation of the Court’s directions and the recommendations of ILO and WHO to prevent preventable diseases and preventable deaths by prevention of asbestos trade, manufacture and use. It demands revision of the provisions of the Factories Act, 1948 which declare manufacture, handling and processing of Asbestos and its products as Hazardous Process but do not impose ban on manufacture, handling and processing of asbestos and asbestos based products. It seeks amendment in the Schedule XIV, Section 87 of the Factories Act which deals Dangerous Operation of “Handling and Processing of Asbestos, Manufacture of any Article or Substance of Asbestos and any other Process of Manufacture or otherwise in which Asbestos is used in any Form’ to ensure that India supports listing of chrysotile asbestos under list of hazardous substances as per UN’s Rotterdam Convention. BANI demands cancellation of all the environmental clearances and No Objection Certificates given to asbestos based factories and ban on all asbestos based products. It seeks legal and medical relief for the victims of incurable asbestos related diseases caused by primary and secondary exposure. It wants asbestos free schools and hospitals, asbestos free powder, asbestos free water supply pipes and asbestos free vehicles. It demands decontamination of all the public and private buildings including foreign embassies which are ridden with asbestos fibers. The decision making with regard to asbestos must be shifted from the commerce ministry, a promoter of trade in asbestos, to the health ministry, a regulator of health hazards. The latter must be empowered to ensure that it gives precedence to public health.