{"id":1423,"date":"2010-09-14T09:55:18","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T08:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/?p=1423"},"modified":"2010-09-15T09:45:10","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T08:45:10","slug":"ilo-sounds-the-%e2%80%98death-knoll-for-asbestos%e2%80%99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/2010\/09\/14\/ilo-sounds-the-%e2%80%98death-knoll-for-asbestos%e2%80%99\/","title":{"rendered":"ILO sounds the \u2018death knell for asbestos\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_1431\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/IBAS-demo-21.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1431\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1431  \" title=\"photo: Laurie Allen\/International Ban Asbestos Secretariat\" src=\"http:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/IBAS-demo-21-300x257.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"257\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/IBAS-demo-21-300x257.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/09\/IBAS-demo-21-1024x879.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1431\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">DYING INDUSTRY  Asbestos kills at least 300 people every day. It&#39;s time the industry was killed off, say unions and campaigners.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>A statement from a United Nations body confirming its desire to see the end of asbestos use worldwide is the \u2018death knell\u2019 for a substance which claims one life every five minutes around the clock, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ituc-csi.org\/ilo-deals-the-death-knoll-for.html\">global union confederation ITUC<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ilo.org\/safework\/lang--en\/docName--WCMS_144446\/index.htm\">International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week warned in an official position statement<\/a> that industry lobbyists pushing asbestos around the world must not claim to have ILO support.<\/p>\n<p>ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said the ILO statement provides welcome support for the global union campaign to see a ban on asbestos worldwide and a just transition to safer, better jobs for displaced asbestos workers. \u201cILO has confirmed that it wants to see the elimination of asbestos use worldwide, full stop,\u201d she said. \u201cComing on the heels of calls for a global ban on asbestos use from major <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rightoncanada.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Letter-to-Premier-Charest1.pdf\">scientific<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cma.ca\/ban-asbestos\">medical<\/a><sup> <\/sup>and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.collegiumramazzini.org\/download\/15_FifteenthCRStatement%282010%29.pdf\">occupational health<\/a><sup> <\/sup>groups, this sounds the death knell for the deadly fibre and a fatal blow for the asbestos pushers.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ituc-csi.org\/l-oit-sonne-le-glas-de-l-amiante.html?lang=fr\">L\u2019OIT \u00ab sonne le glas de l\u2019amiante \u00bb, dit la CSI &#8211; ITUC-CSI-IGB<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ituc-csi.org\/la-oit-aborda-el-hundimiento-del.html?lang=es\">La OIT aborda el \u201chundimiento del amianto\u201d, dice la CSI &#8211; ITUC-CSI-IGB<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The ILO statement comes at a time the asbestos industry is pressing hard for an expansion of chrysotile (white) asbestos production and sales. All forms of asbestos except for chrysotile are already prohibited worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>Industry lobby group the Chrysotile Institute, which takes a lead in the global promotion of asbestos exports, routinely cites ILO documents and claims they are supportive of its case for continued asbestos use.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrysotile.com\/en\/sfuse\/manual.aspx\">Chrysotile Institute\u2019s \u2018Safe use manual\u2019<\/a> claims it \u201cbuilds on the principles of controlled-use embodied in ILO Convention 162, Safety in the Use of Asbestos.\u201d The Institute also claims on its website to have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrysotile.com\/en\/about.aspx\">organised training courses \u201cin cooperation\u201d with the ILO<\/a> \u201cintended to promote the controlled use of chrysotile.\u201d And a March 2010 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chrysotile.com\/data\/2010_03_24_10_17_06.pdf\">Chrysotile Institute news release<\/a> headed \u2018Partners in Favour of Chrysotile Fibre\u2019 and criticising those calling for a global asbestos ban said its case was supported by \u201cdocuments from the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization among others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Concerned at the industry\u2019s repeated misuse of ILO\u2019s name, the Geneva-based body issued the position statement which highlights the UN agency\u2019s commitment to \u201cpromoting the elimination of the future use of all forms of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The ILO statement also underlines that \u201cthe ILO Convention on Safety in the Use of Asbestos, No. 162, should not be used to provide a justification for, or endorsement of, the continued use of asbestos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The issue has caused renewed controversy in recent months, as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tuc.org.uk\/workplace\/tuc-18413-f0.cfm#tuc-18413-18\">Chrysotile Institute has been trying to secure government and private funds<\/a> to dramatically expand asbestos production in Quebec, Canada. The last-ditch effort to revive Quebec&#8217;s asbestos industry this month received a cash lifeline while the deadly mining operation scrabbles to find private investors. The rapid approval by the Quebec government of a Can$3.5 million (US$3.4m) guaranteed line of credit, plus political support from Canada&#8217;s federal government, allowed the Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Quebec to reopen for the month of September.<\/p>\n<p>The new cash has given the mine &#8211; which has virtually exhausted its asbestos deposit, is under bankruptcy protection and which ceased operating in October 2009 &#8211; breathing space to find private investors. Without this it has been told a Can$58m (US$56m) loan guarantee from the Quebec government, which would underwrite the cost of opening a new asbestos mine, would not be forthcoming. If the mine goes ahead, it will export 200,000 tonnes of asbestos a year to developing countries for 25 years.<\/p>\n<p>Sharan Burrow said the ILO position statement could have \u201clife-saving consequences, in reinforcing the union case for a total asbestos ban.\u201d At <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ituc-csi.org\/IMG\/pdf\/2CO_12_extending_social_protection_and_ensuring_good_OH_03.pdf\">ITUC\u2019s June 2010 global congress<\/a> in Vancouver, delegates agreed to press for \u201ca total world ban on the use and commercialisation of asbestos, in which regard Congress, meeting in Canada, makes a special appeal to the Canadian government to join a total world ban on asbestos.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That did not mean consigning asbestos workers to the scrap heap, however. According to Sharan Burrow: \u201cBringing an end to asbestos use is crucial, but only one part of the equation. That\u2019s why ITUC is pursuing a policy of <a href=\"http:\/\/climate.ituc-csi.org\/IMG\/pdf\/COP15_TUstatement_Final_EN.pdf\">just transition<\/a>, replacing dirty, damaging and deadly jobs with safer alternatives. We don\u2019t want to see asbestos workers jobless, we want to see them in good, union jobs that don\u2019t kill them. Asbestos is a dying industry \u2013 we need to consign it to history and move instead to decent, green jobs where you work, not die, for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fiona Murie, health and safety director of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bwint.org\/default.asp?Index=2927&amp;Language=EN\">global construction union federation BWI<\/a>, whose members are in the asbestos exposures front line, warned that while the industry profited from asbestos use, workers paid with their lives. \u201cThe <a href=\"http:\/\/www.who.int\/mediacentre\/factsheets\/fs343\/en\/index.html\">World Health Organisation\u2019s latest estimate<\/a> notes that asbestos already claims 107,000 lives a year,\u201d<sup> <\/sup>she said, pointing to a July 2010 WHO factsheet. \u201cEven that conservative estimate means every five minutes around the clock a person dies of asbestos related disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The construction union health and safety expert welcomed the ILO statement. \u201cThis confirms what the industry has in reality known all along \u2013 ILO, alongside major respectable scientific and medical organisations the world over, opposes the ongoing use of a fibre that kills at least 300 people every day. The asbestos industry, aided and abetted by the governments of Canada and Quebec, must now cease and desist its callous and cynical subterfuge on asbestos and should accept no-one including the ILO wants its deadly product.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A statement from a United Nations body confirming its desire to see the end of asbestos use worldwide is the \u2018death knell\u2019 for a substance which claims one life every five minutes around the clock, the global union confederation ITUC has said. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) this week warned in an official position statement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[201,255,268,267,11,28],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1423"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1449,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1423\/revisions\/1449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hazards.org\/greenjobs\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}