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Poster Sessions
    Friday 19, November, 2004, 12:30-18:30, (16:00-17:00, Q&A) No.3 CR
Saturday 20, November, 2004, 09:30-18:30, (16:00-17:00, Q&A) No.3 CR
  Sunday 21, November, 2004, 09:30-12:30, No.3 CR

Poster Sessions
Asbestos Exposure in Shipbreaking
Claudio Bianchi, Tommaso Bianchi
Center for the Study of Environmental Cancer - Italian League against Cancer, Monfalcone, Italy
ABSTRACT

Asbestos has widely been used in shipbuilding, so that it was difficult to find on a ship a place asbestos-free. All the varieties of asbestos have been employed, including crocidolite that is generally considered as the most hazardous type. Ship demolition is a source of heavy exposure to asbestos, unless adequate protective measures are adopted. Since two decades shipbreaking has been concentrated in some Asian countries. At present about 90% of the ship demolitions in the world occur in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The most important shipbreaking site is located in Alang, on the coast of Gujarat (India)1. A series of striking pictures taken by the Brazilian photographer Sebastiāo Salgado in Bangladesh in 1989, illustrated the serious conditions of these workplaces. Studies conducted in the above countries show that people employed in shipbreaking are not informed about the risk of their work2. The technology is primitive, and protection measures are lacking. !
Environmental pollution involving neighbourhood villages has been documented in Pakistan3. The problem is not confined to some countries of Central Asia. In the Mediterranean region an important demolition yard is active in Aliaga on the Western coast of Turkey. International co-operation is necessary to face shipbreaking emergency.

1Langewiesche W. The Outlaw Sea. North Point Press, New York, 2004.
2Chowdhury-Repon AR. Asbestos in Ship-Breaking Business in Bangladesh. GAC 2004 Tokyo 19-21 Novembre 2004 (Plenary Session 2).
3Jehan N et al.. Women Health and the Environmental Exposure / Risks of Asbestos in the Scrapes of Old Ships in Sarai Kili, District Mardan, NWFP, Pakistan. GAC 2004 Tokyo 19-21 Novembre 2004 (Workshop E).