World News Roundup: Asbestos Stories Outside the US

In Zimbabwe, asbestos mines are facing major economic dislocation as South Africa’s ban on asbestos and asbestos-containing products begins to take hold. South Africa promulgated regulations in 2004 which banned asbestos in that country, but the ban is only now beginning to actually take effect. South Africa was the primary customer for asbestos from Zimbabwe’s mines, which now hope to increase sales to other countries in the developing world which have not yet banned asbestos.

It is feared that more than 10,000 asbestos miners and associated workers will be thrown out of work owing to the loss of the South African market. The asbestos mining industry in Zimbabwe is thought to produce about $60 million each year in revenue, supporting some 70,000 miners and associated workers. The 10,000 miners and workers currently at risk are employed at two chrysotile asbestos mines and their associated factories, which produce irrigation pipes, brake pads, and gaskets. Zimbabwean mining concerns say they will focus their efforts on developing markets in the Far East, Middle East, India, Sri Lanka and Brazil. Zimbabwe produces about nine percent of the world’s asbestos.

In Japan, a bill has been enacted to provide compensation to the relatives of people who were posthumously found to have died from asbestos-related diseases and conditions. Current law in Japan provides compensation only for family members of those who were diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease before their death. Many workers passed away without applying for benefits under the system, or without a confirmed diagnosis of an asbestos-related condition.

The new law will provide about three million yen (about $28,000) to families which apply within five years after a victim’s death, but only if the person who died did not seek benefits before their death. The law also extends deadlines for filing for compensation for family members whose kin died before the new system came into effect, and for those whose right to file for benefits has expired under Japan’s five-year deadline for labor-accident compensation. The law also requires the government to thoroughly investigate Japan’s businesses which used asbestos, and to publish the results of their inquiries.

Asbestos was used widely in Japan in insulation material and in roofing tiles until the 1980s. Japan banned asbestos completely in 2004.

Sources:

” Zimbabwe : Asbestos Mines Face Staff Exodus“, Financial Gazette ( Harare ) , 12 June 2008

“Posthumous Asbestos Redress OK’d“, Kyodo News, 12 June 2008

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