On 21st October, 2009, Delhi High Court would hear the matter concerning the proposal for the Asbestos Cement Products (1,50,000 MTPA) and Fibre Reinforced Plastic Products (FRP 3,60,000 Metre, FRP Pipes and/other products) at Village Akbarpur Urd, Tehsil Laksar, District Haridwar, Uttranchal by M/s Aqua Infra Projects Ltd. Total land acquired for phase-I is 6.6110 ha. and 6 ha. land for phase II is yet to be acquired. Total project cost is Rs. 92.00 Crores. The palletized compact bags of asbestos fibres will be emptied in an enclosed automatic debagger. The shredded bags will be sent to fibre mill. The boiler will be coal fired and dust control devices will be installed. Bag filters will be provided to cement and ash silos and a dust collector will be attached to the fibre bag opening machine to arrest dust during loading and unloading. Total water requirement will be 140 m3/day. Tanks/ponds of adequate capacity will be developed for the collection and settlement of liquid effluent. Supernatant liquid will be recycled for making fresh slurry. ?Zero? discharge will be adopted. Domestic wastewater after treatment in septic tank will be used for green belt development. Solid waste will be ground/pulverized and recycled in the process as raw material. The Public Hearing / Consultation was held on 10th June 2008.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests hereby accords environmental clearance to the above unit under the EIA Notification dated 14th September, 2006 subject to the compliance of the terms and conditions
Project No: J-11011/1150/2007.-IA.II(I)
Project Name: Asbestos Cement Sheet Product
District:Hardwar
Village:Akbarpur Urd
Company:M/s Aqua Infra Projects Ltd
Project received on 19/06/2008 and approved on 09/04/2009 by Experts Appraisal Committee for environmental clearnce (EC)on industrial projects
Projects Granted EC (Projects received upto 30th April 2009)
Earlier, the project of a company named M/s Everest Industries Ltd.received on 05/09/2006 and approved on 22/02/2007 by Experts Appraisal Committee for environmental clearnce (EC)on industrial projects. Project No: J-11011/310/2006-IA.II(I), Project Name: Asbestos Cement Sheet Project District:Haridwar, Village:at Lakesari, Roorkee.
Notably, as of August 27, 2009, according to IBAS in the following countries there are National Asbestos Bans:1
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Chile
Croatia2
Cyprus*
Czech Republic*
Denmark
Egypt
Estonia*
Finland
France
Gabon
Germany
Greece*
Honduras
Hungary*
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Japan [Major restrictions on asbestos use were introduced in October, 2004;
Japanese asbestos consumption has fallen by more than 90%.]3
Jordan4
South Korea
Kuwait
Latvia
Lithuania*
Luxembourg
Malta*
Netherlands
New Caledonia
Norway
Oman
Poland
Portugal*
Romania
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Slovakia*
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom (including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
Uruguay
_______
1 Exemptions for minor uses are permitted in some countries.
2Croatia banned asbestos as of January 1, 2006. Six weeks later, the Ministry of Economy, under political and commercial pressure, forced the Ministry of Health to reverse its position with the result that the manufacture of asbestos-containing products for export was permitted again.
3In July, 2005, the Japanese Government announced implementation of a total asbestos ban within 3 years.
4An immediate ban on amosite and crocidolite was imposed on August 16, 2005; a grace period of one year was allowed for the phasing out of the use of tremolite, chrysotile, anthophyllite and actinolite in friction products, brake linings and clutch pads. After August 16, 2006, all forms of asbestos will be banned for all uses.
* January 1, 2005 was the deadline for prohibiting the new use of chrysotile, other forms of asbestos having been banned previously, in all 25 Member States of the European Union; compliance with this directive has not been verified in countries with an asterisk (*). As of May 2009 there are 27 Member States, with Romania and Bulgaria joining the EU in 2007.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Asbestos Cement Pipes, a Health Hazard?
Rajen Gohain, a Lok Sabha MP of Nawgong, Assam from Bhartiya Janta Party raised the issue of Use of Asbestos Cemented Pipes in Drinking Water Projects in the Lok Sabha saying, "Will the Minister of Health and Family Welfare be pleased to state: (a) whether the Asbestos Cemented (AC) pipes used for Drinking water projects is a health hazard; (b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and (c) the corrective action taken by the Government in this regard? Mr Gohain raised the matter on July 15, 2009.
Banning Asbestos Trade
Banning asbestos exports: The value of tilting at windmills
It's easy to get demoralized these days with so much going wrong around the world. So it is incredibly encouraging to see a campaign for justice and workers' health and safety prevail against supposedly insurmountable odds.
That is how the "odds" would have been described a year and a half ago for anyone musing about taking on the asbestos industry in Quebec. It would be difficult to come up with an example of a more entrenched and powerful adversary. A year ago, the remnants of a once enormous asbestos mining industry had literally every powerful political and economic player in its corner: all the federal political parties, including the NDP and the Liberals; all of the provincial political parties in Quebec; all the business and corporate players provincial and federal; the entire Quebec union movement and the Canadian Labour Congress; and by their meek silence (with a couple of exceptions) the medical and academic scientists whose voices could have made an enormous difference.
A year later and the asbestos industry and its lethal product are literally on their last legs, assailed from (almost) all sides. One after the other the supporters of this dying/killing industry have changed sides, bowing finally to a relentless campaign backed up by indisputable science declaring asbestos -- all asbestos -- kills and maims. The latest news is out of Quebec, where the final battles are, of necessity, taking place.
It is instructive to all those who assess the prospects of certain struggles as impossible to win, to read that the Quebec Liberal government -- a centre-right, pro-business party -- is now considering abandoning the industry that just weeks ago it was pledging to give its undying support. A story in Monday's La Presse reported that: ".a high-level meeting took place last week between the three government stake-holders most affected by the issue: the Minister of Health, Yves Bolduc, the Minister delegated to Natural Resources, Serge Simard, as well as the president of the National Public Health Institute of Quebec (INSPQ), Luc Boileau."
Those at the meeting are declining comment about media speculation [1] that the government of Jean Charest is examining "the possibility of revising its position on asbestos between now and the end of the year." Such an examination was deemed inconceivable even four months ago. But the revelation the government is even thinking about changing position means it will be extremely difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. Its best strategy for maintaining the status quo would have been to say nothing at all. In the asbestos fight, once you talk about it, your fate is decided. Charest's office is denying that they are considering changing policy, but it is an enormous crack in the asbestos edifice that the meeting took place, no matter how they try to explain it away.
A victory for science and morality
Just ask Michael Ignatieff -- who came full circle last spring and summer, making the banning of asbestos Liberal Party policy. Ignatieff entered the debate off-guard -- drawn into it by an activist at a Victoria public meeting. His response was an unguarded, moral one: "Our export of this dangerous product overseas has got to stop." He tried to wriggle out of it -- after being pounded by his own party heavy weights and the Quebec media. But it was too late: the morality of the exports was the issue.
Ignatieff initially claimed the science wasn't clear. But that route was suddenly blocked by the coincidental release of two reports -- one by Health Canada (suppressed for a year) and another devastating study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the world's most respected cancer organization. Both confirmed chrysotile asbestos a deadly Class 1 carcinogen. To his credit, Ignatieff stuck to his original gut response: exporting this stuff was immoral.
The NDP had earlier been obliged to abandon its position -- just as it was making in-roads in Quebec -- faced with determined lobbying and the sheer weight of the moral argument. Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, too, took the risky step of alienating the CLC's Quebec wing by calling for a ban [2] after an emotional appeal on behalf of sick and dying workers by one of India's largest unions.
The role of science in this struggle is as gratifying as that of the moral imperative's victory over economics. Science has taken a severe beating in Canada and the US over the past fifteen years with governments all but abandoning the precautionary principle for the market's "risk assessment" approach. Whether it's tainted meat or climate change, the right's fierce attack on science has had the effect, amongst others, of intimidating many scientists whose role it is to protect society.
But the junk science produced by the asbestos lobby -- in particular the Chrysotile Institute (headed up by the former President of the Quebec Federation of Labour) -- has ironically put some steel in the spine of those assigned with the task of informing the public about health issues. Indeed, it's as if the dam had broken in Quebec and all the data and many of the scientists involved, suddenly flooded into the public realm.
Fifteen doctors, toxicologists, occupational hygienists and epidemiologists, several of them professors at the universities of Montreal, Laval and Sherbrooke, issued an extraordinarily powerful public statement calling for and end to Quebec's asbestos exports. The La Presse headline could not have been more clear: "It's time to stop the asbestos lies." This from a group not prone to dramatic statements -- and published by a paper [3] that for years was complicit in the silence.
Dr. Pierre Gosselin of Laval University's medical faculty said that Canada's conduct resembles "criminal negligence." The health experts declared that Canada's efforts to stop chrysotile asbestos being added to an international list of hazardous substances was an "indefensible infamy."
The shameful holdouts
The Chrysotile Institute's core argument has been that asbestos is not harmful if "used safely." But perhaps it was the lie about safe use in Quebec itself that has finally moved the media and the Quebec political elite, to reluctantly reconsider. Quebec's National Public Health Institute has issued a total of eleven reports proving that the claim of "safe controlled use" of asbestos in Quebec is a myth. The lethal cancers directly related to asbestos are increasing in Quebec by 4 per cent a year. And the province's definition of "safe levels" of exposure is ten times more lenient than most of Europe and the US and a 100 times more than the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
There are still powerful holdouts on the asbestos front -- the most aggressive among them, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "The Conservative Party is the only political party that can be trusted to defend the asbestos industry," stated Harper [4], claiming that the Liberals were being "duped and manipulated by extremist groups." That would be, I suppose, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Cancer Society and the International Labour organization. Another holdout is Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois. Most shameful of all is the entire Quebec labour movement, led (or bullied) by the Quebec Federation of Labour, which continues its complicity in the destruction of the lives of potentially thousands of Third World workers so it can maintain "solidarity" with the few hundred miners still working (at much reduced wages) in the sole remaining mine.
But even these final dominoes will fall, sooner or later. The relentless campaign against death and disease, rooted in a moral imperative and public science, and spearheaded by Kathleen Ruff, human rights advisor with the Rideau Institute (disclosure: I am also an advisor with the Rideau) has converted powerful individuals, political organizations and a major Quebec media outlet -- players no one dreamed would change their views.
We'll see who finds their moral compass next.
Murray Dobbin's State of the Nation column appears every two weeks in TheTyee and rabble.ca.
By derrick
October 8, 2009
Published on rabble.ca (http://rabble.ca)
It's easy to get demoralized these days with so much going wrong around the world. So it is incredibly encouraging to see a campaign for justice and workers' health and safety prevail against supposedly insurmountable odds.
That is how the "odds" would have been described a year and a half ago for anyone musing about taking on the asbestos industry in Quebec. It would be difficult to come up with an example of a more entrenched and powerful adversary. A year ago, the remnants of a once enormous asbestos mining industry had literally every powerful political and economic player in its corner: all the federal political parties, including the NDP and the Liberals; all of the provincial political parties in Quebec; all the business and corporate players provincial and federal; the entire Quebec union movement and the Canadian Labour Congress; and by their meek silence (with a couple of exceptions) the medical and academic scientists whose voices could have made an enormous difference.
A year later and the asbestos industry and its lethal product are literally on their last legs, assailed from (almost) all sides. One after the other the supporters of this dying/killing industry have changed sides, bowing finally to a relentless campaign backed up by indisputable science declaring asbestos -- all asbestos -- kills and maims. The latest news is out of Quebec, where the final battles are, of necessity, taking place.
It is instructive to all those who assess the prospects of certain struggles as impossible to win, to read that the Quebec Liberal government -- a centre-right, pro-business party -- is now considering abandoning the industry that just weeks ago it was pledging to give its undying support. A story in Monday's La Presse reported that: ".a high-level meeting took place last week between the three government stake-holders most affected by the issue: the Minister of Health, Yves Bolduc, the Minister delegated to Natural Resources, Serge Simard, as well as the president of the National Public Health Institute of Quebec (INSPQ), Luc Boileau."
Those at the meeting are declining comment about media speculation [1] that the government of Jean Charest is examining "the possibility of revising its position on asbestos between now and the end of the year." Such an examination was deemed inconceivable even four months ago. But the revelation the government is even thinking about changing position means it will be extremely difficult to put the genie back in the bottle. Its best strategy for maintaining the status quo would have been to say nothing at all. In the asbestos fight, once you talk about it, your fate is decided. Charest's office is denying that they are considering changing policy, but it is an enormous crack in the asbestos edifice that the meeting took place, no matter how they try to explain it away.
A victory for science and morality
Just ask Michael Ignatieff -- who came full circle last spring and summer, making the banning of asbestos Liberal Party policy. Ignatieff entered the debate off-guard -- drawn into it by an activist at a Victoria public meeting. His response was an unguarded, moral one: "Our export of this dangerous product overseas has got to stop." He tried to wriggle out of it -- after being pounded by his own party heavy weights and the Quebec media. But it was too late: the morality of the exports was the issue.
Ignatieff initially claimed the science wasn't clear. But that route was suddenly blocked by the coincidental release of two reports -- one by Health Canada (suppressed for a year) and another devastating study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the world's most respected cancer organization. Both confirmed chrysotile asbestos a deadly Class 1 carcinogen. To his credit, Ignatieff stuck to his original gut response: exporting this stuff was immoral.
The NDP had earlier been obliged to abandon its position -- just as it was making in-roads in Quebec -- faced with determined lobbying and the sheer weight of the moral argument. Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, too, took the risky step of alienating the CLC's Quebec wing by calling for a ban [2] after an emotional appeal on behalf of sick and dying workers by one of India's largest unions.
The role of science in this struggle is as gratifying as that of the moral imperative's victory over economics. Science has taken a severe beating in Canada and the US over the past fifteen years with governments all but abandoning the precautionary principle for the market's "risk assessment" approach. Whether it's tainted meat or climate change, the right's fierce attack on science has had the effect, amongst others, of intimidating many scientists whose role it is to protect society.
But the junk science produced by the asbestos lobby -- in particular the Chrysotile Institute (headed up by the former President of the Quebec Federation of Labour) -- has ironically put some steel in the spine of those assigned with the task of informing the public about health issues. Indeed, it's as if the dam had broken in Quebec and all the data and many of the scientists involved, suddenly flooded into the public realm.
Fifteen doctors, toxicologists, occupational hygienists and epidemiologists, several of them professors at the universities of Montreal, Laval and Sherbrooke, issued an extraordinarily powerful public statement calling for and end to Quebec's asbestos exports. The La Presse headline could not have been more clear: "It's time to stop the asbestos lies." This from a group not prone to dramatic statements -- and published by a paper [3] that for years was complicit in the silence.
Dr. Pierre Gosselin of Laval University's medical faculty said that Canada's conduct resembles "criminal negligence." The health experts declared that Canada's efforts to stop chrysotile asbestos being added to an international list of hazardous substances was an "indefensible infamy."
The shameful holdouts
The Chrysotile Institute's core argument has been that asbestos is not harmful if "used safely." But perhaps it was the lie about safe use in Quebec itself that has finally moved the media and the Quebec political elite, to reluctantly reconsider. Quebec's National Public Health Institute has issued a total of eleven reports proving that the claim of "safe controlled use" of asbestos in Quebec is a myth. The lethal cancers directly related to asbestos are increasing in Quebec by 4 per cent a year. And the province's definition of "safe levels" of exposure is ten times more lenient than most of Europe and the US and a 100 times more than the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.
There are still powerful holdouts on the asbestos front -- the most aggressive among them, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "The Conservative Party is the only political party that can be trusted to defend the asbestos industry," stated Harper [4], claiming that the Liberals were being "duped and manipulated by extremist groups." That would be, I suppose, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Cancer Society and the International Labour organization. Another holdout is Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois. Most shameful of all is the entire Quebec labour movement, led (or bullied) by the Quebec Federation of Labour, which continues its complicity in the destruction of the lives of potentially thousands of Third World workers so it can maintain "solidarity" with the few hundred miners still working (at much reduced wages) in the sole remaining mine.
But even these final dominoes will fall, sooner or later. The relentless campaign against death and disease, rooted in a moral imperative and public science, and spearheaded by Kathleen Ruff, human rights advisor with the Rideau Institute (disclosure: I am also an advisor with the Rideau) has converted powerful individuals, political organizations and a major Quebec media outlet -- players no one dreamed would change their views.
We'll see who finds their moral compass next.
Murray Dobbin's State of the Nation column appears every two weeks in TheTyee and rabble.ca.
By derrick
October 8, 2009
Published on rabble.ca (http://rabble.ca)
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Govt urged to take lesson from S Africa and ban asbestos
Pointing out that South Africa has joined some 50 countries in banning the use of asbestos, the Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) has urged the government to follow suit.
The African country was the fifth largest supplier of chrysotile asbestos.
The NGO said it was sad that India was one of the largest consumers of chrysotile asbestos. A february 2008 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey that tracks and records the performance of the manufacturing sector, rated asbestos cement in the high growth category among others.
"What is not being recorded is the high growth rate of asbestos victims in the country. This is being done in a studied manner as a classic case of Ostrich policy under the influence of Russia and Canadia amid reports of 10, 000 asbestos deaths per year in US and asbestos related disease epidemic in Europe," BANI said here.
The role of South African government in safeguarding the health of its citizens was commendable, but in contrast, India was quite noteworthy, it added.
The regulations to ban use of asbestos in that country were put into effect from yesterday. They form part of the South African Environment Conservation Act 1989.
BANI pointed out that in its 95th Session of the International Labour Conference on 14th June 2006, International Labour Organtisation adopted a resolution for the elimination of all forms of asbestos from future use as it was the only way forward for protecting workers.
The resolution said,all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are classified as known ‘carcinogens’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a classification restated by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (a joint Programme of the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme)".
BANI said out of several million workers exposed to asbestos in India, less than 30 had been compensated so far. The reasons for such a small number were: refusal by management sponsored studies to grant medical certifications to workers suffering from occupational diseases, lack of training for doctors in diagnosis of occupational lung diseases, deliberate misdiagnosis by doctors of asbestosis as either chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis.
The NGO appealed to the Government to take lessons from the countries like South Africa and said it was high time for prohibition of asbestos consumption and a announced that national register of asbestos products and its victims would be maintained by them.(UNI)
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/
The African country was the fifth largest supplier of chrysotile asbestos.
The NGO said it was sad that India was one of the largest consumers of chrysotile asbestos. A february 2008 Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) survey that tracks and records the performance of the manufacturing sector, rated asbestos cement in the high growth category among others.
"What is not being recorded is the high growth rate of asbestos victims in the country. This is being done in a studied manner as a classic case of Ostrich policy under the influence of Russia and Canadia amid reports of 10, 000 asbestos deaths per year in US and asbestos related disease epidemic in Europe," BANI said here.
The role of South African government in safeguarding the health of its citizens was commendable, but in contrast, India was quite noteworthy, it added.
The regulations to ban use of asbestos in that country were put into effect from yesterday. They form part of the South African Environment Conservation Act 1989.
BANI pointed out that in its 95th Session of the International Labour Conference on 14th June 2006, International Labour Organtisation adopted a resolution for the elimination of all forms of asbestos from future use as it was the only way forward for protecting workers.
The resolution said,all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are classified as known ‘carcinogens’ by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, a classification restated by the International Programme on Chemical Safety (a joint Programme of the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme)".
BANI said out of several million workers exposed to asbestos in India, less than 30 had been compensated so far. The reasons for such a small number were: refusal by management sponsored studies to grant medical certifications to workers suffering from occupational diseases, lack of training for doctors in diagnosis of occupational lung diseases, deliberate misdiagnosis by doctors of asbestosis as either chronic bronchitis or tuberculosis.
The NGO appealed to the Government to take lessons from the countries like South Africa and said it was high time for prohibition of asbestos consumption and a announced that national register of asbestos products and its victims would be maintained by them.(UNI)
http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Asarco, Sterlite & Asbestos Claims
Asarco, U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC sought bankruptcy protection in 2005 amid a strike and more than $1 billion in environmental damage and asbestos claims.
Grupo Mexico, the largest copper miner in Mexico, acquired Asarco in a buyout in 1999 but lacks board control because of the bankruptcy. Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, had said Grupo Mexico's $2.48 billion plan was better than Sterlite's plan, as it would offer more recovery to creditors. Sterlite has contested that decision and earlier this month Sterlite raised its offer for Asarco to $2.57 billion.
Sterlite Industries, a Anil Agarwal-controlled company has raised its bid for acquiring Asarco, the third-largest copper company in the US, for the third time in two months. The Agarwal controlled company said that the revised bid would now include an all-cash offer of $2.56 billion (about Rs 12,300 crore at current exchange rates), compared with its earlier bid of $2.13 billion that was rejected by the Texas Bankruptcy Court, which had recommended rival Grupo Mexico’s offer instead.
After extensive discussions and review, in order to provide full cash payment to asbestos creditors and to allow late file claims and to provide for surplus cash... for the smooth operations of Asarco, Sterlite increased its offer,” Sterlite said in a statement to BSE.
The cases are In re: Asarco LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 05-21207 and In re: Asarco LLC, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 09-00177.
On 21st September, Sterlite Industries Ltd said that it would release Grupo Mexico SAB de CV from a potential legal liability of nearly $8 billion if the Indian miner can win control of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC.
In a court document filed it said that if a federal court approves its plan to acquire Asarco over rival bidder Grupo Mexico's offer, it would not hold Grupo Mexico liable for more than about $900 million of liability related to the 2003 transfer of a Peruvian mine.
Grupo Mexico has been desperate to regain control of Asarco after a federal district judge found in April that Grupo Mexico had made a "fraudulent transfer" of Asarco's "crown jewel" stake in Peruvian miner Southern Copper Corp in 2003 and ordered Grupo Mexico to return the stake along with a cash payment.
Grupo Mexico is appealing the decision, but until now a central issue in the case has been that the judgment would disappear if Grupo Mexico wins, but would stand if Sterlite were to take over Asarco.
Sterlite said in court papers that it was willing to stipulate that the "net present value" of the judgment was $9.13 billion, and based on that value, it would agree to release Grupo Mexico from most of the obligation.
Sterlite said in the court papers that Grupo Mexico could still appeal the decision and may end up paying nothing to Asarco.
In August, 2009 a federal bankruptcy judge made a nonbinding recommendation that Mexican miner Grupo Mexico be allowed to take control of U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC as it emerges from bankruptcy.
Grupo Mexico, the largest copper miner in Mexico, acquired Asarco in a buyout in 1999 but lacks board control because of the bankruptcy. Judge Richard Schmidt of the U.S Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, had said Grupo Mexico's $2.48 billion plan was better than Sterlite's plan, as it would offer more recovery to creditors. Sterlite has contested that decision and earlier this month Sterlite raised its offer for Asarco to $2.57 billion.
Sterlite Industries, a Anil Agarwal-controlled company has raised its bid for acquiring Asarco, the third-largest copper company in the US, for the third time in two months. The Agarwal controlled company said that the revised bid would now include an all-cash offer of $2.56 billion (about Rs 12,300 crore at current exchange rates), compared with its earlier bid of $2.13 billion that was rejected by the Texas Bankruptcy Court, which had recommended rival Grupo Mexico’s offer instead.
After extensive discussions and review, in order to provide full cash payment to asbestos creditors and to allow late file claims and to provide for surplus cash... for the smooth operations of Asarco, Sterlite increased its offer,” Sterlite said in a statement to BSE.
The cases are In re: Asarco LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 05-21207 and In re: Asarco LLC, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas, No. 09-00177.
On 21st September, Sterlite Industries Ltd said that it would release Grupo Mexico SAB de CV from a potential legal liability of nearly $8 billion if the Indian miner can win control of bankrupt U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC.
In a court document filed it said that if a federal court approves its plan to acquire Asarco over rival bidder Grupo Mexico's offer, it would not hold Grupo Mexico liable for more than about $900 million of liability related to the 2003 transfer of a Peruvian mine.
Grupo Mexico has been desperate to regain control of Asarco after a federal district judge found in April that Grupo Mexico had made a "fraudulent transfer" of Asarco's "crown jewel" stake in Peruvian miner Southern Copper Corp in 2003 and ordered Grupo Mexico to return the stake along with a cash payment.
Grupo Mexico is appealing the decision, but until now a central issue in the case has been that the judgment would disappear if Grupo Mexico wins, but would stand if Sterlite were to take over Asarco.
Sterlite said in court papers that it was willing to stipulate that the "net present value" of the judgment was $9.13 billion, and based on that value, it would agree to release Grupo Mexico from most of the obligation.
Sterlite said in the court papers that Grupo Mexico could still appeal the decision and may end up paying nothing to Asarco.
In August, 2009 a federal bankruptcy judge made a nonbinding recommendation that Mexican miner Grupo Mexico be allowed to take control of U.S. copper miner Asarco LLC as it emerges from bankruptcy.
Canadian MP remains mum on asbestos issue
SARNIA -- The refusal by Sarnia-Lambton's MP to clarify her position on Canada's controversial asbestos exports is appalling, a prominent Liberal says.
"I'm appalled by (Pat Davidson) not taking a stand, especially considering the many families in this riding who have been devastated by asbestos and its effects," said Tim Fugard, who is seeking the federal Liberal party nomination in Sarnia-Lambton.
Fugard was responding to Davidson's repeated dodging of questions from media asking her to clarify her stance on asbestos exports.
"I don't have anything else to say on it," she said yesterday.
Asbestos, a known carcinogen, is no longer used in Canada but the federal government allows it to be sold in developing countries.
According to Statistics Canada, more than $100 million worth of asbestos was exported last year, much of it to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Brazil.
The Conservatives currently hold the Quebec seat that is home to the last asbestos mine in Canada, and critics say Ottawa is afraid to reverse a policy that might anger Quebec voters.
"It shouldn't be a dollar issue," said Fugard. "(Davidson) should be standing up for Sarnia-Lambton and for all Canadians."
By TARA HAGAN, SUN MEDIA
The London Free Press
Sep 3, 2009
"I'm appalled by (Pat Davidson) not taking a stand, especially considering the many families in this riding who have been devastated by asbestos and its effects," said Tim Fugard, who is seeking the federal Liberal party nomination in Sarnia-Lambton.
Fugard was responding to Davidson's repeated dodging of questions from media asking her to clarify her stance on asbestos exports.
"I don't have anything else to say on it," she said yesterday.
Asbestos, a known carcinogen, is no longer used in Canada but the federal government allows it to be sold in developing countries.
According to Statistics Canada, more than $100 million worth of asbestos was exported last year, much of it to India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Brazil.
The Conservatives currently hold the Quebec seat that is home to the last asbestos mine in Canada, and critics say Ottawa is afraid to reverse a policy that might anger Quebec voters.
"It shouldn't be a dollar issue," said Fugard. "(Davidson) should be standing up for Sarnia-Lambton and for all Canadians."
By TARA HAGAN, SUN MEDIA
The London Free Press
Sep 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
BANI Welcomes U.S. Surgeon General’s Statement Seeking Asbestos Ban
For Immediate Release:
Thursday, September 17, 2009
New evidence shows asbestos causes ovarian cancer and laryngeal cancer
BANI Demands immediate ban on import & use of asbestos
September 17, 2009, New Delhi -Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) appreciates and welcomes US Surgeon General Steven K. Galson's statement acknowledging the dangers of asbestos and calls upon the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Commerce and Industry to initiate steps for immediate ban on use, manufacture and trade of all forms of asbestos (including Chrysotile or White Asbestos).
Illustrating the same Kerala State Human Rights Commission has noted that exposing workers and consumers to asbestos fibers of all kinds including chrysotile constitutes violation of human rights in its order dated 31st January, 2009. But Indian government continues to put commercial interests of asbestos industry ahead of health and the environment of Indian citizens.
Despite the asbestos disease epidemic in US, Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa and elsewhere, a recent document titled "Human Health Risk Assessment Studies in Asbestos Based Industries in India" by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Union Ministry of Environment Forests has failed to recommend ban on asbestos. The study reiterates the Supreme Court’s order by asking Medical examination record should be maintained and stored for a period of 10 years following the termination of employment, or for 40 years after first day of employment, whichever is later. In order to comply with the recommendations contained in IS:11451-1986 (i.e. Bureau of Indian Standards Recommendations for Safety and Health Requirements Relating to Occupational Exposure to Asbestos), employer should stop existing practice of employment of temporary, contract workers or daily wage workers. Such recommendations have not been complied in a contemptuous manner.
The study was undertaken by the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow for the CPCB. The foreword by Chairman, CPCB reveals the alarming fact that the indigenous asbestos is mostly used by the unorganized sector. Clearly, ban on asbestos mining has not been implemented in totality.
The political patronage enjoyed by the industry is an open secret. BANI has written letters to the President, Vice President, National Human Rights Commission and the Defence Minister (armed forces use asbestos as well) drawing their urgent attention towards a serious unprecedented environmental and occupational health crisis with regard to unnoticed asbestos epidemic in the country. Even if one asbestos fibre reaches the right place, it causes irreversible damage - leading to asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma. Thirty deaths are caused per day from asbestos-related diseases as per estimates based on US and European studies.
Russia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe and few others are the largest exporters of asbestos and BANI along with the trade unions are concerned about Indian government's apathy for the occupational and public health of citizens and workers in India. Further the massive unethical advertising campaigns in India are underway to make people believe that asbestos is safe, while the facts state the contrary. There is incontrovertible evidence that creates a compelling logic for making India asbestos free.
The asbestos exporting countries in liaison with the Indian asbestos industry in collusion with government has unleashed a misinformation campaign about the mythical safe and controlled use of asbestos products, unmindful of the fact that so far some 50 countries have banned all forms of asbestos, and are already using alternative materials.
Almost every international health agency of repute including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the American Cancer Society agree there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Most recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reconfirmed that all commercial asbestos fibers - including chrysotile, the most commercially used form of asbestos - cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. In addition, the IARC newly confirmed that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos causes ovarian cancer and reconfirmed asbestos causes laryngeal cancer.
US Surgeon General’s statement specifies: "I urge every American to become aware of the public health issues of asbestos exposure and the steps they can take to protect their health." It also underscores the need for a ban, stating, "...there is no level of asbestos exposure that is known to be safe and minimizing your exposure will minimize your risk of developing asbestos-related disease."
The US Senate's Resolution urging the Surgeon General to issue a warning, 'as a public health issue, to warn and educate people that asbestos exposure may be hazardous to their health', is indeed a landmark step to prevent exposure and deaths.
Responding to the statement, a victim of asbestos disease, Linda Reinstein, Executive Director of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) said, "As a mesothelioma widow, I am pleased to see the Surgeon General's statement, as asbestos has been a known carcinogen for more than thirty years. ADAO is excited to be able to advance educational efforts with his statement, which strongly reaffirms the need to ban asbestos."
Notably, In the US, Dow Chemicals Company which refuses to own the manifest liability for Bhopal Gas leak disaster has set aside $2.2 billion to address future asbestos-related liabilities arising out of the Union Carbide acquisition, no Indian industry has done so till date.
To read the Surgeon General's full statement, please visit: www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/pressreleases/pr20090401.html.
# # #
About Ban Asbestos Network of India
Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) is engaged in responding to public health crisis due to mining, manufacturing, use, and import of all forms of asbestos including Chrysotile. As part of a global anti-toxic activists’ coalition, BANI is fighting to ensure asbestos free ship-breaking. Asbestos is a commercial term for six fibrous minerals of which chrysotile (white asbestos), the fibrous form of serpentine, is the form of asbestos which is mostly used now. BANI was founded by public health and environmental health researchers and activists in 2002. For more information visit banasbestosindia.blogspot.com
For further details: Gopal Krishna, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), Mb:09818089660, E-mail: banasbestos@yahoo.com
Read the 6th United States Senate Annual Asbestos Awareness Resolution
Here.
Statement from Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson about
National Asbestos Week
In recognition of 'National Asbestos Awareness Week,' I urge every American to become aware of the public health issues of asbestos exposure and the steps they can take to protect their health.
In recent decades, because of concern about asbestos' health effects, production and use has declined substantially. Most individuals exposed to asbestos, whether in a home, in the workplace, or out-of-doors will not develop disease- but there is no level of asbestos exposure that is known to be safe and minimizing your exposure will minimize your risk of developing asbestos-related disease.
Asbestos is the name given to a group of fibrous minerals that occur naturally in the environment. Low levels of asbestos are commonly in the air as fibers enter the environment from natural rock outcroppings, products that contain asbestos, former asbestos mining and milling operations, and from disturbance of asbestos-containing material. It is when we are exposed to much more concentrated levels of asbestos that we should be concerned. Therefore, it is important for all Americans to be aware of asbestos levels in their environment.
Asbestos can be dangerous if it is inhaled. Activity that disturbs asbestos causing these small fibers to float in air increases the chances of inhalation and the contraction of asbestos-related diseases. Disturbance is what leads to exposure. Do not attempt to touch or remove asbestos by yourself. Only people professionally trained and certified to safely handle asbestos should remove it.
Once breathed in, asbestos fibers can remain in the lungs for years and even decades. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause inflammation and scarring of the lungs, changes in the lining of the chest cavity around the lung, and certain cancers. Remember that tobacco smoke greatly increases your risk of lung cancer if you have also been exposed to asbestos.
If you think you have been exposed to asbestos, I encourage you to speak to your health care provider. Your provider can tell you if any of your health problems might be caused
by asbestos exposure.
To learn more about asbestos and asbestos related diseases, please visit:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/asbestos/
http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/
Thursday, September 17, 2009
New evidence shows asbestos causes ovarian cancer and laryngeal cancer
BANI Demands immediate ban on import & use of asbestos
September 17, 2009, New Delhi -Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) appreciates and welcomes US Surgeon General Steven K. Galson's statement acknowledging the dangers of asbestos and calls upon the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Commerce and Industry to initiate steps for immediate ban on use, manufacture and trade of all forms of asbestos (including Chrysotile or White Asbestos).
Illustrating the same Kerala State Human Rights Commission has noted that exposing workers and consumers to asbestos fibers of all kinds including chrysotile constitutes violation of human rights in its order dated 31st January, 2009. But Indian government continues to put commercial interests of asbestos industry ahead of health and the environment of Indian citizens.
Despite the asbestos disease epidemic in US, Europe, Australia, Japan, South Africa and elsewhere, a recent document titled "Human Health Risk Assessment Studies in Asbestos Based Industries in India" by Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Union Ministry of Environment Forests has failed to recommend ban on asbestos. The study reiterates the Supreme Court’s order by asking Medical examination record should be maintained and stored for a period of 10 years following the termination of employment, or for 40 years after first day of employment, whichever is later. In order to comply with the recommendations contained in IS:11451-1986 (i.e. Bureau of Indian Standards Recommendations for Safety and Health Requirements Relating to Occupational Exposure to Asbestos), employer should stop existing practice of employment of temporary, contract workers or daily wage workers. Such recommendations have not been complied in a contemptuous manner.
The study was undertaken by the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow for the CPCB. The foreword by Chairman, CPCB reveals the alarming fact that the indigenous asbestos is mostly used by the unorganized sector. Clearly, ban on asbestos mining has not been implemented in totality.
The political patronage enjoyed by the industry is an open secret. BANI has written letters to the President, Vice President, National Human Rights Commission and the Defence Minister (armed forces use asbestos as well) drawing their urgent attention towards a serious unprecedented environmental and occupational health crisis with regard to unnoticed asbestos epidemic in the country. Even if one asbestos fibre reaches the right place, it causes irreversible damage - leading to asbestosis, lung cancer or mesothelioma. Thirty deaths are caused per day from asbestos-related diseases as per estimates based on US and European studies.
Russia, Canada, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe and few others are the largest exporters of asbestos and BANI along with the trade unions are concerned about Indian government's apathy for the occupational and public health of citizens and workers in India. Further the massive unethical advertising campaigns in India are underway to make people believe that asbestos is safe, while the facts state the contrary. There is incontrovertible evidence that creates a compelling logic for making India asbestos free.
The asbestos exporting countries in liaison with the Indian asbestos industry in collusion with government has unleashed a misinformation campaign about the mythical safe and controlled use of asbestos products, unmindful of the fact that so far some 50 countries have banned all forms of asbestos, and are already using alternative materials.
Almost every international health agency of repute including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the American Cancer Society agree there is no safe level of asbestos exposure. Most recently, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reconfirmed that all commercial asbestos fibers - including chrysotile, the most commercially used form of asbestos - cause lung cancer and mesothelioma. In addition, the IARC newly confirmed that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos causes ovarian cancer and reconfirmed asbestos causes laryngeal cancer.
US Surgeon General’s statement specifies: "I urge every American to become aware of the public health issues of asbestos exposure and the steps they can take to protect their health." It also underscores the need for a ban, stating, "...there is no level of asbestos exposure that is known to be safe and minimizing your exposure will minimize your risk of developing asbestos-related disease."
The US Senate's Resolution urging the Surgeon General to issue a warning, 'as a public health issue, to warn and educate people that asbestos exposure may be hazardous to their health', is indeed a landmark step to prevent exposure and deaths.
Responding to the statement, a victim of asbestos disease, Linda Reinstein, Executive Director of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) said, "As a mesothelioma widow, I am pleased to see the Surgeon General's statement, as asbestos has been a known carcinogen for more than thirty years. ADAO is excited to be able to advance educational efforts with his statement, which strongly reaffirms the need to ban asbestos."
Notably, In the US, Dow Chemicals Company which refuses to own the manifest liability for Bhopal Gas leak disaster has set aside $2.2 billion to address future asbestos-related liabilities arising out of the Union Carbide acquisition, no Indian industry has done so till date.
To read the Surgeon General's full statement, please visit: www.surgeongeneral.gov/news/pressreleases/pr20090401.html.
# # #
About Ban Asbestos Network of India
Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) is engaged in responding to public health crisis due to mining, manufacturing, use, and import of all forms of asbestos including Chrysotile. As part of a global anti-toxic activists’ coalition, BANI is fighting to ensure asbestos free ship-breaking. Asbestos is a commercial term for six fibrous minerals of which chrysotile (white asbestos), the fibrous form of serpentine, is the form of asbestos which is mostly used now. BANI was founded by public health and environmental health researchers and activists in 2002. For more information visit banasbestosindia.blogspot.com
For further details: Gopal Krishna, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI), Mb:09818089660, E-mail: banasbestos@yahoo.com
Read the 6th United States Senate Annual Asbestos Awareness Resolution
Here.
Statement from Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson about
National Asbestos Week
In recognition of 'National Asbestos Awareness Week,' I urge every American to become aware of the public health issues of asbestos exposure and the steps they can take to protect their health.
In recent decades, because of concern about asbestos' health effects, production and use has declined substantially. Most individuals exposed to asbestos, whether in a home, in the workplace, or out-of-doors will not develop disease- but there is no level of asbestos exposure that is known to be safe and minimizing your exposure will minimize your risk of developing asbestos-related disease.
Asbestos is the name given to a group of fibrous minerals that occur naturally in the environment. Low levels of asbestos are commonly in the air as fibers enter the environment from natural rock outcroppings, products that contain asbestos, former asbestos mining and milling operations, and from disturbance of asbestos-containing material. It is when we are exposed to much more concentrated levels of asbestos that we should be concerned. Therefore, it is important for all Americans to be aware of asbestos levels in their environment.
Asbestos can be dangerous if it is inhaled. Activity that disturbs asbestos causing these small fibers to float in air increases the chances of inhalation and the contraction of asbestos-related diseases. Disturbance is what leads to exposure. Do not attempt to touch or remove asbestos by yourself. Only people professionally trained and certified to safely handle asbestos should remove it.
Once breathed in, asbestos fibers can remain in the lungs for years and even decades. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause inflammation and scarring of the lungs, changes in the lining of the chest cavity around the lung, and certain cancers. Remember that tobacco smoke greatly increases your risk of lung cancer if you have also been exposed to asbestos.
If you think you have been exposed to asbestos, I encourage you to speak to your health care provider. Your provider can tell you if any of your health problems might be caused
by asbestos exposure.
To learn more about asbestos and asbestos related diseases, please visit:
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/asbestos/
http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/
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