adminAsbestos is a key product used by households and governments in infrastructural projects.
The Rotterdam Convention, an international grouping designed to control and administer the dramatic growth of chemical production and international trade, meeting this week, had made a proposal for the inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in Annex III to the Convention.
Annexure III is a list of products largely regarded as posing a serious health risk to human beings.
It is widely believed that listing is usually a precursor to the eventual ban of the product.
In Zimbabwe, asbestos is a multi-million dollar industry employing thousands in production and value addition. For decades, it has been the lifeblood of Zvishavane, a town economists believed had the highest income per capita in Zimbabwe.
Speaking during the plenary session of the 6th Conference of Parties of the Rotterdam Convention, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Ms Abigail Shonhiwa indicated it was improper to list chrysotile as there was no new scientifically conclusive data to prove that the product was indeed harmful to human beings.
Ms Shoniwa is the chairperson of the National Chrysotile Task force.
“It would be scientifically unjust to consider listing in the PIC procedure list in light of such inconclusive evidence,” she said. “As far as we know, there has not been a fundamental shift in the inconclusiveness of chrysotile in terms of asbestos-related diseases since the previous COPs.
“My delegation is then left to wonder why such a subject would be discussed under this circumstance. We feel we must have new evidence from credible sources before the Conference can consider this. Several peers who have written scholarly articles have demonstrated that chrysotile has shown an extremely lower biopersistence (the time an inhaled particle remains in the lung before it is eventually cleared) than the suggested alternatives.
“We know that chrysotile life in the lungs is 11 days, while that of suggested alternatives man-made fibres are as long as 90 days.”
Decisions to list substances as seriously hazardous are taken by consensus of the 152 countries party to the Convention.
The International Chrysotile Association (ICA), an organisation of like-minded groups that determined to fend off the listing and promote the safe use of chrysotile asbestos, believes the future of asbestos production and trading will become largely uncertain as it will result in additional obstacles.
The stake for Zimbabwe could not be higher as the country is in the process of actively scouting for investors to help in the resuscitation of the Shabanie-Mashaba mines, previously one of the world’s largest producers of best grade chrysotile asbestos fibre.
Russia and India also weighed in against the inclusion of asbestos, citing the lack of conclusive scientific evidence on the proven toxicity of asbestos under the current circumstances to support the proposal.
In the past two decades, there has been a vicious lobby from the European Union, including other African countries, to list chrysotile asbestos.
But before Tuesday’s plenary session, there was high-level caucusing between delegations.
Observers indicated that the motivation of those advocating for the “blacklist” of asbestos seems to be occasioned by their past experiences with the dangerous and hazardous classes of asbestos, such as amosites and amphiboles, that have since been banned globally.
The Asbestos Resource Centre, an international group, notes that exposure to asbestos usually results in diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Abestosis is regarded as a prolonged lung disease that is caused by the continuous inhalation of asbestos particles, while mesothelioma is believed to be a cancer commonly found in the lung.
But it hasn’t been scientifically proven that the controlled use of chrysotile asbestos can be hazardous to health, which has sparked opposition against its proposed listing as a seriously hazardous substance.
Asbestos is critical to developing countries, not least Zimbabwe, as it is strategic in construction, building, water reticulation, irrigation, car manufacturing and other industrial applications.
Before the closure of Shabanie and Mashaba mines in 2008, Zimbabwe was the biggest producer of chrysotile asbestos. Turnall, a listed manufacturer of building as piping material from chrysotile asbestos cement product, imports its raw materials from Brazil and Russia.
Online Reporter