Ecobreves – PERU: A Call to Ban Asbestos Use

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

LIMA, May 22 2004 (IPS) - Three civil society groups asked the Peruvian Congress on May 17 to ban the use of asbestos in industrial processes after a press conference in which they presented four former employees of an auto parts factory who suffer asbestosis. In the manufacture and use of asbestos — a non-combustible mineral fiber — a dust can be produced that is carcinogenic and cause of other diseases. The World Health Organization recommends against the use of asbestos.

The Peruvian Ministry of Health bans asbestos use in tanks or filters, but the fiber is a component of many other products.

The Association Against Asbestos, the Peruvian Consumers and Users Association and the Citizens Forum for Life reported 91 recorded cases of people affected by asbestosis and 34 lung cancer cases among workers who handled asbestos.