• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Complex `fibres' in asbestos study

Rabindra Nath Sinha

KOLKATA, Sept. 17

THE Union Government's recent decision to get all health risk issues related to production and use of asbestos examined by an expert committee has to be viewed against the backdrop of steps either already initiated or proposed to be taken by a number of countries to ban manufacture and/or use of the material.

The eight-member committee, set up by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and headed by Dr V. Rajagopalan, its Joint Secretary, has to evolve, in the light of its findings, a policy/strategy that will deal with clearances for expansion of exist ing asbestos units as also new projects.

The committee is to review the environmental regulations already in force in the country and status of compliance by the industry. It will study how the regulations in India compare with those in force in other countries. The terms of reference also requ ire it to evaluate the adequacy of occupational health and safety measures provided by the employer.

The regulatory approach is based on the provisions and rules under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 and policies evolved by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.

The committee includes member-secretary of the Central Pollution Control Board, director of the National Institute of Occupational Health, Director-General of Mines Safety, director of Indian Toxicology Research Centre and Director-General of the Nationa l Council for Cement and Building Materials.

The Ministry's office memorandum dated August 21, on the constitution of an expert committee observes that asbestos industries have come under close scrutiny worldwide and many of the developed countries have either banned or are in the process of bannin g manufacture and/or use of asbestos and asbestos-based products due to their known adverse health impact. Facts and figures mentioned in the studies suggest that there is a need to evolve a comprehensive policy on asbestos.

In this context, it may be mentioned that about a year ago, the National Campaign Committee (NCC) of the Union Steel Ministry in a note had discussed the scope for substituting asbestos sheets with galvanised plain/corrugated (GP/GC) sheets with the twin objective of augmenting the use of steel and eliminating health hazards that use of asbestos entails.

While pleading for a ban on use of asbestos it pointed out that the product was made up of microscopin bundles of fibres that became airborne when ``disturbed''. These fibres then get into the body through breathing and seriously affect lungs.

There are over 70 units, located mostly in the backward regions of Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Only a few of these are large units. But, domestic availability being rather small, 80 per cent of the asbestos requirement is impor ted. About 60-70 per cent of asbestos is utilised for making asbestos cement sheet, which is used for roofing and is classified as a consumer product.

The note stressed that the health hazard factor had to be viewed against the virtual lack of proper facilities at ports and factories for handling asbestos. Moreover, there is always the risk of inhaling fibres when asbestos sheets are cut to requisite s izes for roofing and other applications peculiar to Indian needs. It concedes that it is extremely difficult to enforce safety measures for users of asbestos sheets in innumerable urban, semi-urban and rural pockets.

A ban on the use of asbestos sheets will in no way affect housing plans as there is adequate installed capacity for GP/GC sheets which, apart from being environment-friendly, are most suitable for low-cost housing. Further, manufacture of GP/GC sheets do es not entail input import.

A ban on the use of asbestos can generate demand for up to 4,00,000 tonnes of galvanised sheets, NCC observed.

For asbestos units, particularly the big ones, this has become a sensitive issue. They, of course, seek to de-emphasise the health risk factors with what informed quarters describe as ``highly technical details'' and emphasise that they take appropriate precautionary measures at their end.