Asbestos: Developing Countries Versus Developed Countries. A Snapshot from 2000 for Bangladesh

As I dig into the published material for my research thesis focusing on the asbestos exposure arising from shipbreaking in Bangladesh, I think that a blog discussing the stark differences between developing countries and developed countries might be worthwhile. I have chosen the year 2000 for a comparison as England went asbestos free in 1999 and I happen to have a 2000 Technical Report discussing environmental related issues arising from the shipbreaking practices in Bangladesh, including a number of on site assessments (interviews and site visits). As we have previously discussed, first-hand primary source materials provide a texture that is just not available from mere photographs taken from long distance.

To understand the asbestos-related happenings in developed countries by the year 2000, the chart available on the internet from the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat is very helpful. http://www.ibasecretariat.org/chron_ban_list.php. Note that not only did England enact a hard stop against using asbestos in 1999, even Russia by that year banned the use of amphibole asbestos. When you look through the list, clearly asbestos was known world-wide by the year 2000 as a serious problem.

Now, as an example of developing countries, compare that to the year 2000 report by Det Norske Veritas entitled “Technical Report, DNV RN 500, Decommissioning of Ships, Environmental Standards: Ship-breaking Practices/ On Site Assessment, Bangladesh–Chittagong, Report No. 2000-3158, Revision No. 01” which is located publicly on the Internet at https://shipbreaking.wordifysites.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/dnvbangladesh.pdf. This report involved a number of environmental issues and toxic exposures, only one of which was asbestos. At 74 pages, it was extremely comprehensive.

As to asbestos, page 10 discusses the yards containing white lumps which were tested as being asbestos along with the following:

“The road connecting Chittagong to Dhaka running parallel to the beach area of Fauzdarhat provides basic infrastructure for scrapping-related activities. Alongside the road, numerous shops, workshops and warehouses are situated. Several of the facilities alongside the road were advertising asbestos for sale. At one of these, the manual re-processing of asbestos lumps to powder was located.”

Also from that page, “The asbestos extraction process caused debris and residues. There were no actions taken to prevent this from spreading (hence the white particles/lumps observed in the area)…”

This asbestos crushing activity, per page 11, was undertaken by workers using wooden clubs.

And, of course, per page 29, much of the sampling showed the presence of Amosite fibers, a very dangerous amphibole asbestos.

The presence of Amosite asbestos fibers from the ships is not a surprise given the prevalence of its use in the shipping industry. If you would like additional details on the use of Amosite on Navy ships, my blog on this topic is at https://theasbestosblog.com/?p=9938.

One of my favorite pages is the below interview on page 15 with the foreman of the asbestos re-processing workers. No protective equipment was available to use while regenerating 2 to 4 tons of asbestos each year for that shop. Before there existed a market for used asbestos, they just tossed it back into the sea. The current market in Dhaka is to both coat boilers and to be used in the cotton mill industry. When I see “cotton mill industry,” I suspect that this includes using asbestos in the clothes manufacturing process that ships the finished clothing to the U.S., England, and other developed countries. This is certainly part of a world-systems dynamic or, in layman’s terms, what comes around goes around.

Page 20 discusses how the reprocessing of asbestos included workers sitting in the asbestos residues breathing the visually contaminated air with no protection.

I think that we all get the point. As I continue my research, the year 2000 history for asbestos handling in developing countries will be updated and part of my analysis. I hope that you join me on this journey. If you have any questions or comments, let me know in the comments or by an email to TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com Thank you. Marty.