09:50 - 12:30, International Conference Hall
Plenary Session 1
Global Health Impact of Asbestos: Urgent Action is needed
Chairs: Kogi Kazutaka and Laurie Kazan-Allen
 |
Barry Castleman
Environmental Consultant
ABSTRACT:
The establishment of the WTO in 1995 created a forum on the global stage where national asbestos bans could not only be challenged individually but collectively. Canada, the world's leading exporter of asbestos fiber, decided to risk taking a case to this "world court of trade" as national bans on asbestos proliferated across Europe and were proposed in Asian and South American countries. Though WTO must have seemed an ideal forum, where trade was the predominant priority, there were also considerable risks for Canada and what remained of the asbestos industry at the turn of the century. The WTO's decision that asbestos bans did not violate international trade agreements, that they were fully justified on public health grounds, was a green light for asbestos ban efforts around the world and has now led to bans in a growing number of countries in all parts of the world. This is an analysis of the global struggle in which activists, scientists, unionists, and public health workers defeated attempts by asbestos interests to manipulate U. N. organizations. From Seattle to Geneva to the Third World, it is an epic story of a public health struggle that has come to involve a virtual network of people all over the world and stands as a model for these times.