Ban-Asbestos-India: Solidarity Message for Asbestos Meeting organised by ITUC-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP), Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI)

Thursday, October 22, 2026

Solidarity Message for Asbestos Meeting organised by ITUC-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP), Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI)

Solidarity Message from India Asbestos Victims Association (IAVA), a member Asbestos Free India campaign of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) for the regional asbestos meeting of trade unions from Asia Pacific countries in Jakarta, Indonesia during 23-24 October organised by ITUC-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP), Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI).

Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. The continued trade of asbestos mineral fiber and its continued use under the patronage of governments and the donors of ruling parties is an act of environmental and public health injustice. India Asbestos Victims Association (IAVA), a member Asbestos Free India campaign of Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) expresses its solidarity with the efforts of the Asia Pacific Trade Unions to make Asia Pacific countries free from asbestos. Ahead of the regional asbestos meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia during 23-24 October, 2026, IAVA and BANI reiterate that all the struggles and endeavors draw lessons from 74 countries which have banned all kinds of asbestos in order to eliminate asbestos related diseases are part of the same joint struggle against injustice.

The communities in Asia Pacific countries-China (including Hong Kong and Macau), Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Taiwan, and Mongolia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, and Timor-Leste, Oceania and Pacific Islands-which are exposed to carcinogenic asbestos mineral fibers are communities of the same shared fate. As of June 2026, 74 countries have banned asbestos, according to International Ban asbestos Secretariat.

These communities face similar burden of incurable morbidity and mortality.The resistance against the injustice of the asbestos and asbestos based companies and their pet political parties have succeed in 74 countries. India is one of those countries which has banned mining of asbestos and trade in asbestos waste but not its trade under the influence of donors of its ruling parties. Given the fact that human biology is same everywhere, the remaining 121 countries are faced with a compelling scientific and medical logic to safeguard the life of the present future citizens of their countries including the health of the families of the heads of their States and governments.

BANI hopes that the resounding message of sanity from the regional asbestos meeting in Jakarta will reach the presidents and prime ministers of the Asia Pacific countries.

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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.

Supreme 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

Thursday, October 22, 2026

Solidarity Message for Asbestos Meeting organised by ITUC-Asia Pacific (ITUC-AP), Union Aid Abroad–APHEDA and Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI)

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