Asbestos Can Cause Cancer But 'it's Cheap'

[george]

Asbestos can cause cancer but 'it's cheap'

Official sees 'no reason' for more expensive substitutes

BANGKOK: -- Known as a cause of lung cancer, asbestos has been banned in the European Union and other advanced nations such as Japan for years.

But some new scientific studies show that its use in construction and other industries could still be safe if handled properly.

Thailand permits the use of white asbestos, called chrysotile, as a raw material in manufacturing.

Professor David Bernstein, a Swiss consultant on toxicology, said here last week that it was a common misconception that asbestos was generally dangerous and should be banned.

"We can use chrysotile safely if it is cleverly used," he said.

Bernstein, who is also a member of expert panels for the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organisation, said chrysotile was less dangerous than blue or brown asbestos due to its greater fragility and solubility.

"This helps it get out of the human lung easily before causing trouble in the body," he said.

Srichant Uthayopas, director of the Industrial Works Department's Hazardous Substance Control Bureau, said Thailand imported about 200,000 tonnes of asbestos a year, mostly for various kinds of cement products used in construction.

Some is used for auto parts like brakes and clutches, as well as insulators and textiles.

Asbestos made of crocidolite and amosite minerals has been outlawed here since July 2003, but chrysotile is still allowed into the country on prior approval.

"We now import only chrysotile, because our industry needs it for its strength and flexibility, which are required for construction projects," she said.

"A substitute for chrysotile would be costly, and I see no reason to pay more for one. Safety and environmental protection are important, but economics is more so," Srichant said, adding that Malaysia, the Philippines and China also still used chrysotile.

Health experts beg to differ. According to a research study by Mahidol University, 2.1 of every 10,000 people living in buildings made from cement containing asbestos are liable to develop lung cancer.

The risk rises to 2.37 per 10,000 if they both live and work in such buildings.

The study is based on a life expectancy of 70 years, including 40 years of work.

"Yes, the risk is there, but it is small compared to smokers, who have a higher risk, 880 out of 10,000," Srichant said, adding that as long as there was no scientific proof, chrysotile should still be used.

Local health and pollution-control officials want to ban chrysotile following the adoption of the Rotterdam Convention.

The chrysotile debate has extended beyond health issues.

According to Bernstein, Japan became a core supporter of the asbestos ban after its labourers working with this type of asbestos in ports were found to be at risk of lung cancer.

"However, doctors did not take the heavy smoking habit of those workers into consideration before concluding that working with chrysotile caused the cancer," said Bernstein, who asserts that he is independent of the chrysotile industry.

Bernstein also noted that France had supported the ban in 1996 when it could produce a substitute for chrysotile.

"It is the biggest substitute-exporter, followed by Germany and Belgium," he said, adding that the argument that the substitute was chrysotile-free did not mean it was risk-free.

Srichant said the chrysotile controversy had increasingly become an international trade and political issue.

"Since we've been importing a large amount of chrysotile, we're also a major market for its substitute. I have also been asked to support the substitute," she said.

While advocating chrysotile use for cheapness, she hopes there will be further research on its safe use.

According to health and environmental experts, the potential risk of asbestos is due to its cumulative effects, but there still has been no sufficient study covering this issue.

"It is a challenge to our country, as well as other countries, on how practically to balance economic gain and environmental and health losses of our people," she said.

"This kind of challenge will crop up more and more in the globalised world."

--The Nation 2006-05-14

[Crushdepth]

"We can use chrysotile safely if it is cleverly used," he said.

And the chances of that are...?

[taxexile]

would one of those posters who love all and everything about thailand like to put the case for the defense of srichants weasel words here?

[ilyushin]

Who came up with these numbers at Mahidol?

Health experts beg to differ. According to a research study by Mahidol University, 2.1 of every 10,000 people living in buildings made from cement containing asbestos are liable to develop lung cancer.

The risk rises to 2.37 per 10,000 if they both live and work in such buildings.

The study is based on a life expectancy of 70 years, including 40 years of work.

[Crushdepth]

And how about the rate of lung cancer in the people handling the asbestos and making the cement? I'm sure they all have appropriate safety gear and instruction.

Not.

[Toni]

"We can use chrysotile safely if it is cleverly used," he said.

And the chances of that are...?

ZERO

[ratcatcher]

Somehow I think that the average Thai is more likely to contract a major illness from one of these causes:-

a) Cigarettes,

excessive alcohol consumption

c) air pollution from cars and buses in Bangkok

d) waterborne diseases from polluted klongs

e) poor diet

Asbestos must rank very low on the danger scale ?

Edited May 14, 2006 by ratcatcher

[penzman]

Handled properly?

What a joke, and they think that construction crews working all over Thailand with flip flops or rubber boots on their feet, baseball cap or hood on their heads, their children playing on the construction site all day, will handle asbestos properly?

[lingling]

Professor David Bernstein, a Swiss consultant on toxicology, said here last week that it was a common misconception that asbestos was generally dangerous and should be banned.

And professor Bernstein was hired by who to make this statement?

"We can use chrysotile safely if it is cleverly used," he said.

Ok, and cutting it with hand tools, breaking it with hammers etc include safe use? It is sold without even a warning sticker, and every Thai I have told about its dangerous properties are totally unaware.

Bernstein, who is also a member of expert panels for the US Environmental Protection Agency and the World Health Organisation, said chrysotile was less dangerous than blue or brown asbestos due to its greater fragility and solubility.

"This helps it get out of the human lung easily before causing trouble in the body," he said.

Great, so the asbestos water pipes I see for sale every where will not cause the drinking water flowing in them to contain even more asbestos?

http://www.epa.gov/ogwdw/dwh/c-ioc/asbestos.html

The risk rises to 2.37 per 10,000 if they both live and work in such buildings.

The real danger is for people who handle it. It is relatively safe when it is installed, but while being handled (during construction or demolition) it will release a lot more fibers into the air [to be inhaled by construction workers and whoever happens to live, work, go to school etc nearby]

[Toni]

Quote: The real danger is for people who handle it. It is relatively safe when it is installed, but while being handled (during construction or demolition) it will release a lot more fibers into the air [to be inhaled by construction workers and whoever happens to live, work, go to school etc nearby] Unquote

Exactly: asbestos is that dangerous that various countries has specialized companies to demolish buildings, roofs etc. with this material. They are specially equipped, even with special over-pressurised suits and oxygen masks. In an event of a fire the fire brigade uses special protection and washes the road and tries to keep the air humid to prevent particles from flying around.

Who are the idiots??

Cuote Professor David Bernstein, a Swiss consultant on toxicology, said here last week that it was a common misconception that asbestos was generally dangerous and should be banned.

"We can use chrysotile safely if it is cleverly used," he said. Unquote

One see this happen in Thailand??

Quote "A substitute for chrysotile would be costly, and I see no reason to pay more for one. Safety and environmental protection are important, but economics is more so," Unquote

Speechless!

Srichant said, adding that Malaysia, the Philippines and China also still used chrysotile. Unqote

These countries are really good examples to create an excuse to start opening the door widely for manufacturers banned or working with high overheads caused by the special treatment and procedures. They are ready to move to a country offering cheap labour and the three famous monkeys:

Cuote According to health and environmental experts, the potential risk of asbestos is due to its cumulative effects, but there still has been no sufficient study covering this issue.

Unquote

Those “sufficient studies” are always the excuse to delay and delay rules and regulations!

Cuote "It is a challenge to our country, as well as other countries, on how practically to balance economic gain and environmental and health losses of our people," she said. Uncuote

Speechless again…..

Furthermore, in Holland for example, the asbestos manufacturers are paying hugh amounts of money to (ex)-labourers suffering of asbestoses or to widows of such persons who died. Are they doing charity or…….. Seems that there are enough evidences.

disclaimer: thanks to the, for me anonymus, maker of his partly published picture!

[GuestHouse]

Is the defender of Asbestos tied up in anyway to the companies that produce it?

[ando]

Like it or not, governments all over the world make risk/benefit analysis decisions all the time. Have done for all of history and will continue to do so for the rest of history. Nuclear energy & carbon emissions are a couple we are debating now in our western societies. We have already been down the asbestos debate road, and if you look back I am sure you could find a lot of people saying it was safe in developed countries when they knew different.

Developing countries like Thailand tend to have a lot less safety constraints than the west because the benefit outweighs the risk at the moment. Should we also call for a ban on street cart vendors because of improper hygiene controls? There a lots of things you could pick on where Thailand is behind the west in general safety measures. I think thats one of the reasons a lot of people want to go there. But freedom and cheap living come at a cost. That cost is the risk we all take in Thailand.

For the people who want to impose western standards on Thailand, lets see them hand over the money to make it happen. Who has a few billion baht to make Thailand a safer place? And anyway, why would the majority of western men want to live in Thailand if it was just like the west and cost just as much as the west to give them such a safe life?

Love the place for what it is and take your chances. Otherwise stay home and stop winging.

[Crushdepth]

Since when is safety a 'western value'? You think Thai people don't deserve to live in safe buildings and eat safe food? You really think they don't want a better, safer life for their kids? Give it a rest.

Better safety regulations aren't going to kill anyone, and they aren't going to turn the place into Sydney either.

[britmaveric]

Great news - what a fking ######! (asbestos handled cleverly poses no problem)

[Plus]

Since when is safety a 'western value'? You think Thai people don't deserve to live in safe buildings and eat safe food? You really think they don't want a better, safer life for their kids?

They surely want all those things, but then they pile up all their kids on one motorcycle (helmet for papa only) and zigzag through traffic every morning, or put all their extended family in the back of a pickup truck and speed on highways. Safety belts? Air bags? Whiplash protection?

Give it a rest.

That's what they all say when safety issues come up.

[Toni]

Otherwise stay home and stop winging.

I cannot stay home the whole day!?

the theme was already in Thai Forum: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=68164