Insight

Will the WHO see sense?

The WHO is all over the place.

On the one hand, it acknowledges that the health risks associated with chrysotile and blue and brown asbestos are vastly different.

On the other, it lumps all asbestos together and says, “the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos related diseases is to stop using all types of asbestos.”

Perhaps it would do well to pay more attention to the views of its members, for example the representative for Brazil, who said: “Will other WTO Members be allowed to ban products of developing countries that can be safely used with appropriate, tested precautions simply to appease the public?

“Modern economies use hundreds of products that present health risks if they are misused, but that present no risks if they are used properly.

“Products includ(ing) organic fibres, man-made fibres, benzene, mercury, ammonia, nearly all forms of pesticide…Societies regulate these to ensure they are used safely so as to protect the health of workers handling them directly and of the general population, which is exposed to them indirectly. The same treatment is appropriate for uncontaminated chrysotile.”