Asbestos Nations Block Placement of Chrysotile on Danger List

GENEVA, Switzerland, November 18, 2003 (ENS) - Asbestos producing countries have blocked a proposal to limit international trade in chrysotile asbestos, which accounts for the vast majority of commercial asbestos production. The mineral is known to cause cancer when inhaled, even in small amounts.

This week's meeting of Parties to the Rotterdam Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Convention is to decide whether all forms of asbestos and two hazardous pesticides should be added to an international list of chemicals that cannot be exported unless the importing county agrees in writing to receive the shipment.

Four other forms of asbestos today were added to the one type already on the PIC list, but a decision on chrysotile asbestos was postponed until the next meeting of Parties, which will be in late 2004.

Agreement to put chrysotile asbestos on the list was blocked by Canada, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa , Ukraine, and Zimbabwe.

Canada requested that the chrysotile asbestos decision be postponed to allow for completion of its national consultations on the issue.

Canadian negotiators Jean-Louis Wallace (left) and Bernard Madé ask for postponement of the chrysotile PIC listing. (Photo courtesy IISD)

Chrysotile is the only kind of asbestos mined in Canada, and both asbestos producers and Health Canada claim it can be used safely if it is properly processed.

In 2001, the Rotterdam Convention's Interim Chemical Review Committee recommended that the five remaining forms of asbestos - amosite, actinolite, anthophyllite, tremolite and chrysotile - be added to the interim prior informed consent procedure list. One form, crocidolite, is already listed.

The committee's review of asbestos was triggered by bans in the European Union, Australia and Chile that followed scientific review of the mineral's health and environmental effects. Under the treaty a review is initiated when two countries in two different regions ban or severely restrict a chemical.

Apart from the 15 EU member states, Australia and Chile, countries supporting the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a dangerous substance included Argentina, Brazil, Congo, Egypt, Gambia, Morocco, New Zealand, Norway, and the United States.

The European Union has decided to ban all asbestos products beginning in 2005.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) today condemned Canada and Russia for "leading a revolt" against the listing of chrysotile asbestos. The group believes the listing is "crucial" because it alerts potential importers that this form of asbestos is a known cancer causing agent.

"Canada's objection to listing chrysotile is embarrassingly self-interested and makes a mockery of the convention's intent which is shared responsibility for health and the environmental protection between exporters and importers of harmful substances," said Julia Langer, director of International Conservation Program at WWF-Canada.

Clifton Curtis is director of WWF's Toxics Program. (Photo courtesy IISD)

Russia is the world's largest chrysotile producer. About 100 miles from Ekaterinburg in Russia’s Ural Mountains, the city of Asbest was founded in the 1920s as a production base for asbestos. Today, it is still home to the largest asbestos extraction facility in the world, and the plant employs one in 10 of the city’s nearly 90,000 residents.

But Alexey Kokorin, WWF-Russia's Toxics Program coordinator says Russia should back the PIC limits on chrysotile asbestos without reservation. "Russia's decision to support Canada is counterproductive," he said, "and contradicts statements by government officials that they are responsible participants in multilateral environmental and trade agreements."

Asbestos is valued for its high tensile strength, fibrous nature, resistance to heat, and inert chemistry. Once widely used as insulation for houses and specialized equipment, asbestos was eliminated in many countries when it became understood that its tiny fibers were being inhaled into the lungs of workers and residents and causing cancer, other illnesses and death.

Asbestos is still used in seals, gaskets, joints, brakes, armaments and other applications, although cost effective substitutes are increasingly available for most applications.

Chrysotile asbestos (Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin)

Lung cancer is caused by chrysotile, anthophyllite, amosite, and crocidolite asbestos in asbestos workers who smoke cigarettes. Evidence for excess lung cancer in nonsmoking asbestos workers is weak. Asbestos and cigarette smoke combine to produce a significant risk to many asbestos workers, particularly those who are heavily exposed to asbestos dusts.

This week's Rotterdam Convention meeting is also considering the addition of certain pesticides to the PIC list.

Delegates will consider the pesticide DNOC and its salts, once widely used as an insecticide, weedkiller and fungicide. DNOC is highly toxic to humans and poses a high risk to other organisms. The review process was initiated by bans in Peru and the European Union.

The third group of substances under consideration are pesticides that are severely hazardous under conditions of use in developing countries.

The PIC list would apply to dustable powder formulations that contain a mixture of pesticides: benomyl at or above seven percent, carbofuran at or above 10 percent, and thiram at or above 15 percent.

These formulations were found to cause severe problems in peanut cultivation in Senegal. In an epidemiological study, 22 cases of poisoning were reported, including five deaths. All 22 cases showed three or more symptoms of pesticide poisoning.

The treaty already covers a starting list of 22 pesticides and five industrial chemicals, including aldrin, DDT, dieldrin, HCH, lindane, mercury compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and others.

Since September 1998, five additional pesticides - binapacryl, toxaphene, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride and monocrotophos - have been added to the interim PIC procedure.

In addition, the PIC Secretariat has recently received second notifications of final regulatory actions for five additional chemicals - dimefox, endosulfan, endrin, mevinphos and vinclozolin. There are now at least two notifications from two PIC regions for each of these chemicals that meet the information requirements. These five chemicals are scheduled for consideration by the fifth session of the Interim Chemical Review Committee tentatively scheduled for February 2004 in Geneva.

Agreed in 1998 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the Rotterdam Convention seeks to help governments, particularly in the developing world, prevent chemicals accidents and pollution.

In his address to the delegates Monday, UNEP Deputy Executive Director Shafqat Kakakhel called the treaty the "first line of defense" against chemical hazards, and a vital part of the international toolkit for protecting human health and the environment from harmful pesticides and chemicals.

With some 70,000 different chemicals available on the market today, and 1,500 new ones being introduced every year, the PIC Secretariat says that many governments find it difficult to monitor and manage these potentially dangerous substances.

The Rotterdam Convention was adopted in September 1998. To date, the pact has been signed by 73 states and ratified by 49 states and the European Community. It will enter into force once 50 instruments of ratification are deposited.

Delegates are speculating on which country will become the 50th to ratify the convention, triggering its entry into force. Ecuador and Greece were both mentioned as possibilities.