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15 July, 2005ICEM News Release No. 74/1999
Brazilian labour confederation CUT today launched a national campaign to ban all forms of asbestos from the country.
The first goal of the campaign is to make union members fully aware of the dangers of asbestos, and CUT has prepared a full range of information material.
Brazil is the world's fifth-largest producer and consumer of asbestos, and did not begin regulating its use until the mid-1980s. In recent years, asbestos use per capita in Brazil has been 14 times the US rate.
The Brazilian government should offer early retirement packages to the country's asbestos miners, the CUT says. It also wants the government to invest in new industries in the mining areas.
The unions believe there is a good chance that Brazil will ban asbestos in the near future. The major asbestos companies Eternit and Brasilit (a Saint-Gobain company) announced on 30 November that they would conduct research into the use of alternative materials.
The CUT hopes that its national campaign will speed up progress towards a ban.
"There is no such thing as safe asbestos," emphasises the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). "Attempts to distinguish between 'more' and 'less' hazardous types of asbestos are based on discredited science, and even single exposures to very low doses of fibres can result in harm."
The first goal of the campaign is to make union members fully aware of the dangers of asbestos, and CUT has prepared a full range of information material.
Brazil is the world's fifth-largest producer and consumer of asbestos, and did not begin regulating its use until the mid-1980s. In recent years, asbestos use per capita in Brazil has been 14 times the US rate.
The Brazilian government should offer early retirement packages to the country's asbestos miners, the CUT says. It also wants the government to invest in new industries in the mining areas.
The unions believe there is a good chance that Brazil will ban asbestos in the near future. The major asbestos companies Eternit and Brasilit (a Saint-Gobain company) announced on 30 November that they would conduct research into the use of alternative materials.
The CUT hopes that its national campaign will speed up progress towards a ban.
"There is no such thing as safe asbestos," emphasises the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM). "Attempts to distinguish between 'more' and 'less' hazardous types of asbestos are based on discredited science, and even single exposures to very low doses of fibres can result in harm."