by D Tuvera

Insists chrysotile asbestos is safe

Manila, Philippines (November 17) -- The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) study in March 2009 reconfirming the carcinogenicity of all forms of asbestos – including chrysotile – and confirming that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos causes ovarian cancer provides the 'new evidence' and 'scientific reality' on the issue, replied the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) to the chrysotile industry's claim that those against chrysotile asbestos must be open to ‘new evidence' and 'scientific reality'.

Studies by independent experts, individuals and organizations must be the basis when citing scientific and medical studies and the IARC is one such organization with experts on the subject, TUCP and ALU said further in a consultation on 4 November 2009 on developing a national program for the elimination of asbestos related diseases (NPEAD) called by the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and attended by other government agencies and stakeholders.

Chrysotile is 'safe', used in malls

The Association of Chrysotile Industry of the Philippines (ACIP) maintained that chrysotile is safe and that the industry has been in existence for more than 50 years with no casualties. Negligible fiber exposure due to ‘controlled use' does not pose hazards to human health. Chrysotile is less dangerous than the other forms of asbestos and is safer and better than substitutes.

To prove its point, ACIP said SM and other malls, the Iglesia ni Kristo and Gawad Kalinga use asbestos products in their buildings. The MWSS (Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System) also asked ACIP to operate its water pipes made of asbestos because the pipes are still in good condition compared with other pipes.

Since the industry believes that chrysotile is not hazardous, listing it in the PIC (Prior Informed Consent) process of the Rotterdam Convention is not warranted. But the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) said the PIC process would help track the entry of chrysotile in the country when the Bureau of Customs (BOC) suggested cross checking the EMB and BOC records on import clearances to address misdeclaration of imports.

Medical surveillance and mesothelioma cases

The Occupational Safety and Health Center, the Department of Health (DOH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) requested sufficient medical records of workers of ACIP members to determine the health status of their workers. Companies engaged with asbestos should be doing medical surveillance of their workers, which is far more different from medical records of a few workers shared by ACIP.