Cambodia’s Road to Asbestos Phase-out
On April 2, 2026, three hundred delegates convened in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh for a government-sponsored consultation chaired by His Excellency Say Sam Al, Cambodia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUP&C). The initiative was a collaboration between the Cambodian Government and Australian partners including: Australian Aid, the Asbestos Safety and Silica Agency, Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA and the Australian Embassy in Cambodia.1
 Picture courtesy of the Cambodian Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. |
Amongst the attendees were His Excellency Associate Professor Heng Sothy, Deputy Secretary of State at the Ministry of Health, and representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, the Architects Council of Cambodia, the Department of Preventive Medicine of the Ministry of Health, public and private construction organizations, employers’ groups, labor federations and trade unions. International partners who participated in the event included Australian experts who discussed the challenges posed and strategies implemented to address the deadly national epidemic caused by decades of widespread asbestos use.
 Picture courtesy of the Cambodian Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. |
Central to the discussions which took place on April 2 was a 60-page publication launched at the meeting: the Economic Impact Assessment Related to the Use of Asbestos [in Cambodia] (EIA). To this end, one of the EIA’s authors was in attendance to answer questions. The Executive Summary of the EIA, copies of which were distributed at the workshop, was uncompromising in its findings:
“The economic assessment of a proposed ban on asbestos containing materials and raw asbestos fibres was found to be economically viable, with the health benefits from avoided disease far outweighing the cost of implementation and transition by a ratio of 4:1, even under conservative assumptions. Given the serious and well-documented health risks of asbestos exposure, and the clear net welfare gains demonstrated by the analysis, it is recommended that a comprehensive ban be implemented in Cambodia. In the same vein, a strategic and targeted policy implementation plan that improves awareness, prioritises industry engagement, and facilitates transition, together with strong enforcement, can provide a pathway to mitigate significant public health risks from exposure to asbestos.”
In 2011, a paper entitled: The Economic Impact of the Banning of the Use of Asbestos in Brazil was published by academics Ana Lucia Gonçalves da Silva and Carlos Raul Etulain which concluded that the: “Effective control of the risks created by asbestos will require a complete ban on the mining, transport, manufacture, sale, and utilization of asbestos, in all its forms, throughout Brazil.” Six years later, Brazil’s Supreme Court issued a ruling banning the commercial exploitation of asbestos, as a result of which all national usage ceased.2 One can but hope that it won’t take six more years before Cambodian citizens enjoy equal protection from deadly asbestos exposures as had their Brazilian counterparts!
April 14, 2026
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1 Information about this meeting was obtained from the Facebook page of the Cambodian Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction and the Facebook page of the Cambodian Ministry of Health. Another source accessed for this article included a LinkedIn post by the Asbestos and Silia Safety and Eradication Agency.
https://www.asbestossafety.gov.au/
2 Kazan-Allen, L. Brazil Bans Asbestos! December 1, 2017.
https://ibasecretariat.org/lka-brazil-bans-asbestos.php
