ASBESTOS can kill you. So Kevin Rudd wants it banned. It was the lead story on radio this morning with journalist Tony Eastley introducing AM with comment:
“Australia’s Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has called for a global ban on asbestos, and he succeeded on the weekend in having the Labor party agree that Australia lead the push to shut the industry down.”
Shut the industry down! That simple? But who might be disadvantaged? I’ve a problem with the ever-increasing number of popular campaigns that promoting the banning of things without first some consideration of the benefits of the product.
Quoting from John Berlau:
“IN the nineteeth and twentieth centuries, Americans were building the new republic. Although they were busy tending to their farms and their jobs, they were also constantly innovating, building a better life for their children. And they were literally building the better life through the structures they built. Steamboas and then other types of ships made travelling easier than ever before. Big new theaters would open up, making plays and musical revues no longer the privilege of the wealthy few. Education also was no longer the privilege of rich children with private tutors, as parents and communities banned together to build schools.
“What all these structures had in common was that they would house large groups of people gathering together. But with these new opportunities for betterment came danger – the specific danger of fire. Not only were there crowds of people, the methods of powering the activities in the structures presented unknown risks. We were just learning about the properties of steam, kerosene, and electricity. Several large-scale tragedies ensued.
“But several more were prevented because of the use of asbestos. New ways of refining this old material meant that fire protection, too, was no longer just the privilege of the elite.”
According to Berlau because asbestos is not incorporated into modern warships they are that much more vulnerable to fire.
“The number of casualties caused by burns in the Royal Navy warships during the Falkland war and on the USS Stark when the latter was hit by an Exocet missile in the Persian Gulf, was appreciably greater than expected because of the exclusion of asbestos insulation from these ships.”
What are other important uses of asbestos? Can’t the product be used in ways that give advantage, while safeguarding the health of workers?
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Eco-Freaks: Environmentalism is Hazardous to Your Health by John Berlau, Nelson Current, 2006
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.