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The
asbestos business may be good for some companies. But awareness about asbestos cancers should be increased as they have claimed more victims
nowadays.
Asbestos Case in Belgia
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| Abestos cancer via mesothelioma.com |
At the end of 2011, a
Belgian court sentenced Eternit, a multinational manufacturer of
building materials, to pay compensation of 250,000 euros to a family in
which four people died as a result of exposure to asbestos. This
substance consists of a natural mineral fiber that is usually used in
various applications in construction, industry and consumer products.
When it enters the body by inhalation, it can cause diseases such as
asbestosis, lung cancer and pleural and peritoneal mesotelionas.
In
2000 a woman decided to sue the Eternit company after knowing she was
suffering from pleural cancer, the same disease that had killed her
husband, who was employed by the company at its headquarters in
Kapelle-op-den-Bos ( north of Belgium). Both the woman and the two
children of the marriage died because of this disease, which only
happens to those who have been in contact with asbestos.
Therefore,
the civil court in Brussels ultimately punished the multinational
company after ruling that they were guilty of making the woman’s family
use asbestos despite knowing the risks posed to human health. At that
time, Eternit argued that the hazards of this material " were not
clearly defined." The court took into account in ruling the "incredible
cynicism with which scientific knowledge (about the dangers of asbestos)
has been discarded for profit."
Asbestos Ban in Argentina
According
to a report by the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI),
the use of asbestos was banned in Argentina at the national level in
2001. The rule was made through Resolution 823/01 of the Ministry of
Health of the Nation, regarding the production, marketing and use of
such fibers in all its varieties. Also in Buenos Aires, regulation
against asbestos was proclaimed through Act 1820 to 1805.
Asbestos
is composed of thousands of elementary fibrils, that are solidly
attached and can easily be separated longitudinally into finer and finer
fibers, down to microscopic fibrils. Herein lies the key to these
dangerous fibers since they may be in the air and transported away, adds
the research conducted by the INTI.
Thus, waste containing
asbestos fibers is considered "hazardous waste" as endorsed by Law
24,051 of 1992. In Article 2, it is stated that hazardous waste includes
“any waste that may cause direct or indirect harm to living beings or
contaminate the soil, water, air and the environment in general. " This
law promotes healthy environments and disease prevention.
For
decades asbestos has been used in construction (tiles, tiles, cement),
in the automotive industry (clutches, brakes, transmission), in textiles
and even in the food sector, because of its versatility as an
insulator.
Global Asbestos Ban
Globally, the United States
had already banned the use of asbestos in 1989, while the European
Union did ten years later, after finding that exposure to this material
causes "pleural cancer", a disease with high mortality.
A recent
study by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that worldwide there
are currently some "125 million people exposed to asbestos in the
workplace."
Asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma are diseases
highly caused by inhalation of asbestos particles. Having established
that asbestos is highly carcinogenic for human being, it would be normal
to assume that its use is banned globally. However, in most developing
countries there is no adequate monitoring and ways to prevent its use to
reduce the rate of asbestos cancer case. The implementation of Asbestos
removal was extended for much of the twentieth century, but
unfortunately, it still has not been banned in the large parts of the
world.