Official Press Release of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India maintains studied silence about India's role with regard to white chrysotile asbestos at 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to UN's Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade.
Notably, the UN Meeting was concluded on 10th May, 2009 but the Press Release was issued on 16th May, 2019. Government's silence on white chrysotile asbestos is deafening.
The joint meetings of three UN conventions on chemicals and waste was held in Geneva. The theme of the meetings this year was “Clean Planet, Healthy People: Sound Management of Chemicals and Waste”.
The three meetings of these three Conventions included the fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (COP 14), the ninth meeting of the COP to Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade and the ninth meeting of the COP to Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
An Indian delegation of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and comprising other ministries such as Agriculture, Chemicals, and Electronics and Information Technology participated in the meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 29 April to 10 May 2019.
The Press Release issued by Press Information Bureau talks about Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants but feigns ignorance about its won position on Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. India joined Pakistan to support the position of asbestos producing countries like Russia to oppose listing of white chrysotile asbestos in the UN list of hazardous chemicals unmindful of domestic law and scientific findings. This silence is the silence of embarrassment it feels for having adopted a scientifically untenable position.
The Press Release is available at
