Toxic Trade – India

Asbestos: banned in the West sold to the East To see more go to www.youtube.com Follow us on Facebook (goo.gl or Twitter (www.twitter.com Asbestos illness is a largely unrecognised health come forth in India, but with a booming industry and growing imports an epidemic is imminent. This report reveals why this deadly product is making a comeback. “Asbestos has become a dirty word in the West”. Though, in India, factory staff often operate in a fog of carcinogenic dust and their family play in “toxic playgrounds”. Unsurprisingly, respiratory diseases plague those that grow up in the shadows of these factories. Although the Indian government is subsidising the use of asbestos in the building industry, they are not the main culprits in this morbid tale. The margin of asbestos is supplied by Canada, a people that refuses to use the product themselves. “It amounts to Canada being a purveyor of death around the world”. Selling Asbestos is huge business and the Canadians may be opening a new mine which will triple their profits. The human expenditure of this go will also be huge, bringing the morality of their actions into question: “it is such double standards”, says environmental activist Madhumita Dutta. A Film By ABC Australia Spread By Journeyman Pictures November 2011