Ban-Asbestos-India: Protect and Preserve Asbestos Documents in New York Public Library

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Protect and Preserve Asbestos Documents in New York Public Library

To

Mr Paul LeClerc,
President
The New York Public Library

Subject- Protect and Preserve Asbestos Documents

Dear Mr LeClerc,

Greeting from New Delhi!

I have learnt that the New York Library is proposing to destroy an important collection of asbestos documents.

May I submit that this will not serve the interest of poor asbestos victims in India and elsewhere who are consistently being denied legal relief.

I have reliably been informed that the library has not been able to return the documents to the Mr Paul Brodeur, a noted journalist who donated them. I am aware of Mr Brodeur’s outstanding work as a journalist. He is known globally for having exposed toxic hazards to workers and the public. His contribution in the field of toxic substances control is exemplary.

I have learnt that he was the first journalist to investigate and write in detail about the asbestos disease hazard, its cover-up by the asbestos industry, and the asbestos litigation that brought some measure of compensation to tens of thousands of asbestos victims.

In the light of ongoing struggle to make the world free of killer fibers of asbestos, it would serve the human rights of the present and future generations if you can return the collection to Mr Brodeur in toto or you may consider sharing with us in India instead of destroying it.

Your act of treasuring it for so long and sharing it with research and advocacy groups who work to make their countries asbestos free will be deemed valuable.
It will encourage public spirited people across the globe to share their academic resources with libraries for the benefit of humanity.

On behalf of National Alliance for Asbestos Free India and Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), I am requesting you earnestly and solemnly to share all these asbestos related documents with Mr Brodeur or me. It will help the innocent victims of asbestos industry in ensuring legal remedy at some point in future.

If you can do so, we in India will remain grateful and will appreciate your gesture for ever.

Warm Regards
Gopal Krishna
Convener
National Alliance for Asbestos Free India
Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)
New Delhi
Mb: 09818089660, 07739308480
E-mail:krishna2777@gmail.com
Blog:banasbestosindia.blogspot.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: Hello, which library? I would be happy to make a phone call in regards to this.

Thanks
Lorrraine

https://twitter.com/TheMusicofIndia; April 19, 2011 at 11:23 AM

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Ban on Asbestos is a Must

A study in a peer-reviewed journal had earlier estimated that there could be more than 6,000 workers affected by asbestosis (an untreatable lung ailment) and another 600 suffering at the minimum from asbestosis-related lung cancer in India at present. Occupational cancer from asbestos, the disease caused by emissions at the work place, poses an increasingly serious health problem. But the subject has attracted relatively little attention from industry, labour, public health bodies or the medical profession. Asbestos is one of the single largest sources of occupational cancer. Indian polticians are acting as if they are bonded workers of asbestos industry.

World Trade Center, New York collapsed Thousands of tons of asbestos became airborne.

Back in 1981, there was research coming out that Asbestos was cancer causing and this ad was in rebuttal to that research touting the benefits of using Asbestos. The text over the Twin Towers states, "When the Fire Alarm Went Off, It Took Two Hours to Evacuate New York's World Trade Center." I do not need to remind anyone of the images of September 11th and this ad. The copy below the ad goes on to mention all of the places that Asbestos was used in the World Trade Center. I can not not think of all of the innocent victims in the area that were exposed to all of the dust, smoke and inherent asbestos that was in the air after the buildings collapsed. The cloud of smoke went across the entire city and potentially exposed hundreds of thousands of individuals to asbestos. Hopefully there can be a cure or treatment for Mesothelioma before all of these potential victims are diagnosed.

Apex Court allocates meagre compensation for asbetsos victims

In 1995, the Supreme Court of India fixed Rs 1 lakh compensation amount and identified National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) as the final authority to certify asbestosis cases. Compensations are given through the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). Two workers in Ahmedabad Electricity Company diagnosed as having asbestosis by NIOH have been compensated by Gujarat High Court. Twenty-five workers in asbestos jointing and packing industry at Mumbai were compensated by the Special medical board of ESIC. The court ruled that the industrial units must maintain a health record of every worker up to a minimum period of 40 years; insure workers under the Employees State Insurance Act or Workmen’s Compensation Act and give health coverage to every worker.

Asbestos Victims

Every day estimated 30 deaths in India is under way due to the ongoing trade and use of white asbestos. 'Asbestos' in Greek means 'indestructible'. Greeks called asbestos the 'magic mineral'. Asbestos is a generic term, referring usually to six kinds of naturally occuring mineral fibres. Of these six, three are used more commonly. Chrysotile is the most common, accounts for almost 90 per cent of the asbestos used in the industry, but it is not unusual to encounter Amosite or Crocidolite as well. Though Crocidolite asbestos is banned in India, it can still be found in old insulation material, old ships that come from other countries for wrecking in India. All types of asbestos tend to break into very tiny fibre, almost microscopic. In fact, some of them may be up to 700 times smaller than human hair. Because of their small size, once released into the air, they may stay suspended in the air for hours or even days. Asbestos fibres are virtually indestructible. They are resistant to chemicals and heat, and are very stable in the environment. They do not evaporate into air or dissolve in water, and they do not break down over time. Because of its high durability and with tensile strength asbestos has been widely used inconstruction and insulation materials - it has been used in over 3,000 different products. Where do we use it? In India, asbestos is used in manufacture of pressure and non pressure pipes used for water supply, sewage, irrigation and drainage system in urban and rural areas, asbestos textiles, laminated products, tape, gland packing, packing ropes, brake lining and jointing used in core sector industries such as automobile, heavy equipment, petro-chemicals, nuclear power plants, fertilizers, thermal power plants, transportation, defence.

Make India Asbestos Free

Ban-Asbestos-India

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Protect and Preserve Asbestos Documents in New York Public Library

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