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| Sunday, 26 January 2003 |
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Manufacturers' Asso.: 'No health risk in Asbestos' "All scientific studies on neighbourhood exposures of Chrysolite fibre are concluded with negative results," claims the Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers' Association in response to a recent Sunday Observer report on the health hazards of asbestos products. A memorandum addressed to the Sunday Observer by the Association further claims, quoting World Health Organization (WHO) document that " Where appropriate control measures have been applied, workplace exposures to Chrysolite have been reduced considerably, and that the production and processing of Chrysolite generally present less risk for persons involved in mining and manufacturing of friction materials and asbestos cement products". It further states that " there is no consistent evidence that ingested asbestos is hazardous to health, and thus it was concluded that there was no need to establish a health-based guideline value for asbestos in drinking-water". It also states that " In Sri Lanka it is used primarily in the manufacture of corrugated roofing materials. These materials use only ten percent asbestos with the balance 90 percent being cement and moisture. In Sri Lanka friable products were never manufactured. Hence the question of ban and phase out does not arise and is irrelevant". " In July 1989, the US Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA) issued a final ruling banning most products containing asbestos. However, in 1991 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned this regulation. As a result only Flooring Felt, Commercial Paper, Corrugated Paper, Rollboard and Sociality paper of asbestos products remained banned with the rest permissible for import and manufacture in USA. Therefore, Roofing products are not hazardous", the memorandum states. The memorandum also listed a number of pieces of information which it claimed supported with arguments that there was no health hazard in asbestos usage. |
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