Asbestos Not Added to Toxic Substance List

October 16, 2006 - Reuters has reported that chrysotile asbestos has been kept off a watch list of toxic substances, due to a campaign spearheaded by Canada, one of the world’s top producers of the toxic substance that sickens thousands worldwide each year.

Parties to the Rotterdam Convention in Geneva could not agree to add chrysotile to the more than 30 dangerous substances that are already on the list of materials for which exporting countries must inform importers before shipping. The Rotterdam Convention is an international treaty governing trade in toxic substances.

"The lack of a decision at this time to list chrysotile asbestos raises concerns for many developing countries that need to protect their citizens from the well-known risks of this hazardous substance," U.N. Environment Program chief Achim Steiner said this week after the Geneva meeting.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates at least 90,000 people die every year of asbestos-related diseases.

Canadian officials attending the weeklong meeting called any potential listing of chrysotile asbestos “tantamount to banning international trade,” which would also threaten jobs in their country.

However, Alexander Mueller of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said listing the substance would not prompt serious restrictions. "It would not constitute a recommendation to ban its global trade or use," he said in a statement.

The issue will not be revisited until 2008, a disappointment for representatives from many countries, who believe the list can provide poor and developing countries with the opportunity to decide on their own whether or not they can handle such substances carefully.

"At least 200,000 workers will be killed by asbestos disease before the proposal to list asbestos can be tabled again," said Laurie Kazan-Allen of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, who called the failure to act "truly tragic."