Conflicting Signals on Brazil's Asbestos Position
Last year, the Government of Brazil did not join the veto by other asbestos-producing countries of United Nation plans to restrict global sales of chrysotile (white asbestos). The signs are that this year, the position will be reversed and that Brazil will support Canadian-led resistance to the inclusion of chrysotile in the interim PIC (Prior Informed Consent) procedure of the Rotterdam Convention at the September 18, 2004 meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.1
The Brazilian about-turn is difficult to fathom in light of the March 28, 2004 announcement that the Government had decided to ban asbestos; plans to set up technical and interministerial committees to implement this decision were being considered, or so it was reported.2 The reaction of asbestos stakeholders was predictable: Brazilian asbestos companies threatened to sue the Government and increasing pressure was put on Government advisors by the pro-chrysotile lobby.
Reports suggest that there is an internal conflict between the Minister of Work who is examining the political issues surrounding the proposed ban and the Minister of Mines and Energy, Mrs. Dilma Vana Rousseff, who continues to advocate the “controlled use” of asbestos. Several Brazilian institutions including the National Association of Occupational Medicine have denounced Minister Rousseff's manoeuvres to postpone the asbestos prohibition. Fernanda Giannasi, a Factory Inspector in Sao Paulo and a spokesperson for ABREA, Brazil's asbestos victims' organization states:
“Brazil is the fifth largest asbestos producer in the world. The use of asbestos has been banned in States such as Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco and São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul (both São Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul had their laws overturned as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court ). While national consumption of asbestos has fallen dramatically, the level of exports has risen. Nowadays, more than half our asbestos production is exported to countries like Thailand, India, Mexico, Indonesia and Colombia. I have no doubt that workers in these countries are receiving hazardous exposures; the transfer of hazardous technology is unacceptable when it is Brazilians who are being endangered; equally, it is unacceptable when it is Mexicans or Columbians.
ABREA members know what asbestos can do to the human body and are lobbying the Government to make good on its pledge to ban asbestos.”
In just a few years, ABREA has achieved national prominence and become a counterforce to the pro-asbestos voice of vested national interests. In mid-August, 2004, the prestigious Sergio Arouca Award was presented to the Rio de Janeiro branch of ABREA for outstanding work in the field of public health. Ruth Nascimento, President of the branch, accepted the award on behalf of the group.
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August 23, 2004
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1 For more information on the workings of the Rotterdam Convention see: http://www.pic.int/ and the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade: Some Legal Notes by Ted L McDorman in RECIEL 13 (2) 2004, pages 187-200 and Interdiction de l'amiante: quelle est la politique du gouvernement Lula au Bresil? By Laurent Vogel on the TUTB website: http://tutb.etuc.org.uk/
2 This announcement appeared in the Folha de São Paulo, one of Brazil's leading newspapers, on March 28, 2004; less than one week later, Estado de São Paulo, another major Brazilian newspaper, asked whether the time had finally come for a national asbestos ban.
