Alliance news

Address by the Chairman of CIS Countries Trade Unions’ International Alliance “Chrysotile”

chmanDear Friends,

we have been living under the pressure of anti-asbestos propaganda for about 30 years. So, conditions of our enterprises’ existing are getting worse and we are loosing the opportunity to change social status of members of trade union organizations of chrysotile asbestos mining and chrysotile asbestos consuming industry.

Lately European Trade Unions played an active role in anti-asbestos campaign. Defending jobs and wages of their trade unions’ members and using demagogical ways our European colleagues wish to look true at the expense of our jobs and our interests.

In June 2 006 at the ILO Conference the resolution concerning the global ban of asbestos use within the forthcoming years was entered on the agenda violating the regulations of International Labor Organization (ILO). Despite the fact that fraction of employers and representatives of governments as well as trade unions from many countries denied to vote, the Resolution was ratified.

Long-term use of chrysotile in Russia, scientific studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, foreign scientists’ studies prove the control use of chrysotile to be safe thus making clear that anti-asbestos campaign is of the commercial and political nature.
It is European countries that lack chrysotile mines and produce substitutes of chrysotile that carry out such a campaign.

Since the international trade unions are getting involved in anti-asbestos campaign we believe it is the right time for us to protect chrysotile and workers of chryso-tile asbesstos mining and the chrysotile asbestos-cement industry.

The goal of “Chrysotile” Alliance based in the Commonwealth of Independent States is to protect interests of chrysotile workers.
“Chrysotile” Alliance is a trade union organization which backs safe and responsible use of chrysotile in the world and opposes to the global chrysotile ban campaign.

Among our priorities are struggling for workers’ health, improving occupational medicine and improving of working conditions. We have indicated our thoughts and ideas in the Chrysotile Charter that was adopted at the International Conference “Trade Unions and Chrysotile” attended by representatives of more than 15 countries.

We represent workers and express our concern about the fact that in the past few years ILO and World Health Organization (WHO) are making their best to introduce the global ban for chrysotile and chrysotile based materials ignoring the results of scientific studies that prove responsible and control use of chrysotile with modern techniques and production technologies involved to be safe.

We believe that important results of studies and the way chrysotile is used today are not taken into account in the process of trying to impose a ban on chrysotile in favor of its substitutes. Virtually it is an irresponsible and dangerous action which can lead to misunderstanding of the problem by the global society. It is absolutely wrong because most of the substitutes of chrysotile are not studied and its influence on health isn’t recognized according to International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It is also irresponsible to make chargeable decisions for developing countries (considering the unaffordable high prices for substitutes) to get rid of chrysotile-cement in favor of substitutes which haven’t got any advantages either in health effects or impact on the environment.

We also believe that health and safety regulations must be carefully observed by all manufacturers no matter what fiber they are using. We also believe that the protection of workers and population should be based on reliable safety instructions and programs. This approach must be applied both to chrysotile materials and substitute products use.

In October, 2 006 the Director of WHO Occupational Health and Environment Department said that chrysotile was a carcinogen and there wasn’t any carcinogen risk limit of Chrysotile and that every year at least 90,000 people died because of asbestos diseases. It wasn’t the first time that this statement was made. ILO has been making such statements since 001 , without taking into consideration the fact of crucial differences between chrysotile and amphibole fibers and other scientific data that was published recently. This approach cannot help but surprise anybody who’s acquainted with the issue.

According to the UN’s principles, any discussion within WHO must be held involving a group of international experts and representatives of all interested parties. We believe that such an open discussion would determine the true risk of occupational and environmental exposure to chrysotile and identify areas where it is necessary for international scientific community to carry out additional studies with WHO support.

However, WHO having neglected the principle of transparency and without any discussion with the group of international experts and representatives of all interested parties privately submitted the paper of Dr. Ivanov on elimination of asbestos-related diseases. The text of this paper and the manner of its adoption raised many questions to the authors of this paper, since the process of consideration of the paper and its commentaries was not clear and transparent. Independent experts and observers didn’t participate in the discussion of the final paper as well as none of experts’ commentaries were taken into account. Considering the abovementioned facts we strongly believe that this paper cannot be the basis for any WHO activity on elimination of asbestos-related diseases, and be a part of Global Plan of Action of Workers’ Health.

It is necessary to prepare a new political document which must be adopted considering all current scientific data on each and every type of asbestos separately. This document should also benefit from the results of an independent experts’ panel open discussion.

In terms of above-mentioned we demand a call for a WHO technical meeting on the issue: “Do the high density chrysotile-cement products and friction materials pose unacceptable risk for the health of workers and general population?” We also believe that International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) Monograph 203 on chrysotile should also be revised.

Once again we remind WHO that before making any decision on the use of chrysotile fibre it is vital to take necessary measures to avoid making mistakes which may dramatically affect our countries and workers.