Asbestos Bans in Jordan and South Africa
After more than a decade of discussions, the Government of Jordan acted to ban asbestos by an official decree issued by the Ministry of Health on August 16, 2005 which prohibited the use of all forms of asbestos.1 An immediate ban on amosite and crocidolite in all applications was mandated with a one year phase-out period permitted for the use of tremolite, chrysotile, anthophyllite and actinolite in friction products, brake linings and clutch pads. Despite the fact that chrysotile-containing cement pipes were now banned, imports were still arriving from Pakistan, Iran and Greece as was discovered by market surveillance by a government agency earlier this year (2006). The banned products were refused entry to Jordan and re-exported to their countries of origin. During the current phase-out period, brake products containing actinolite and/or chrysotile are being imported from India and China.
In 2004, the Government of South Africa announced its intention to phase-out the use of asbestos by 2009. This decision caused turmoil in neighboring Zimbabwe which is a major exporter of chrysotile; earnings from the industry were worth US$40 million in 2005 with exports going to 50 countries in the Far East, the Middle East and Africa. South Africa is an important customer consuming 40% of Zimbabwe's annual production for roofing of low-cost houses, brake linings and clutch pads for heavy vehicles and high temperature seals.2
Over the last two years, Zimbabwe has been lobbying for a U-turn on South Africa's ban asbestos proposals. This month (November 2006), a delegation, led by Munyaradzi Hwengwere, former spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe, arrived in South Africa to “save the livelihood of communities around the asbestos mining towns in central Zimbabwe,” by explaining the “internationally proven evidence that, because chrysotile fibre, or white asbestos, is different in structure and chemical composition from its blue and brown siblings, it is not a health or environmental threat.” It looks likely, however, that Hwengwere's mission will fail judging by a recent statement made by Joanne Yawitch, South Africa's Environmental Affairs Deputy Director-General: “the difference between white asbetsos and the brown and blue kinds is simply that it kills you more slowly.”
November 18, 2006
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1 This decision makes Jordan the 40th country to ban asbestos. See: Current Asbestos Bans and Restrictions
2 Mukumbira R. Zimbabwe Fighting Asbestos Ban. November 8, 2006. http://www.mineweb.net/african_renaissance/393447.htm
