BWI General Secretary, Anita Normark, calls for urgent action on asbestos, a deadly substance used in building materials.

"Today's exposures guarantee an epidemic lasting at least another generation, with the asbestos graveyards shifting from the developed to the developing world." Says Normark: "At the moment, there is at least one death every 5 minutes, and some jobs are effectively a death sentence. There is no safe level of exposure, so there is no acceptable level of exposure.
This is the preventable industrial health calamity of the modern era."

Today, 90% of asbestos is used in cement products for roofing and building materials and cement pipes. More building workers die each year from past exposure to asbestos than those who are killed in falls ­ yet occupational ill health is largely invisible and ignored.

The International Labour Organsation estimates that more than 100,000 people die of asbestos diseases annually. Most of these people were exposed to asbestos in the building trades.

"In 2006," explains Normark, " thanks to our international trade union campaign we were able to convince the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation to call for a ban on asbestos in all countries. But words and resolutions are not enough. We need clear action from the ILO and the WHO to achieve a global prohibition of this deadly material and to prevent the terrible diseases it causes."

The Building Workers International is asking all trade unions to send the attached letter here to their national governments, asking for a meeting to discuss a national action plan to prevent asbestos related diseases.

BWI is also appealing for a renewed international effort to convince the Canadian Government to recognize that asbestos is the world¹s biggest industrial killer and that it should be banned in all countries. A number of building trades unions have already communicated their intention to hold peaceful demonstrations outside Canadian Embassies for April 28th, International Workers Memorial Day.

"Canada is one of the largest exporters of asbestos" said Normark "and we aim to show its Government that workers in a large number of countries are concerned about Canada's disdain for the occupational and public health of citizens and workers throughout the world. Russia, China and Brazil are also big producers and exporters of asbestos, and we need to convince them to use alternative materials. However, their governments, unlike the Canadian government, do not finance massive advertising campaigns in developing countries to convince them that asbestos is perfectly safe. This behaviour is immoral, and is social dumping of the most cynical kind. Whilst forty industrialized countries have banned asbestos, and are using alternative materials, developing countries are targeted by the asbestos salesmen who will deny the health hazards in order to make profits.