Asbestos Related Issues: Shipbreaking in Bangladesh Thesis

As I work on my Masters in History Thesis (Number 2 of 3), I thought that many of you might be interested in reading the Abstract and, potentially, would like to weigh in with your thoughts and suggested improvements. All recommendations and criticism will be considered constructive.

ABSTRACT

As shipbreaking (recycling an ocean going vessel or platform at the end of its useful life) has migrated from developed countries to developing countries such as Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan over the last two decades, asbestos exposure and other health-related issues affecting the shipbreaking laborers in those developing countries has become a significant issue.  In at least one scholarly publication, shipbreaking on the beaches of Bangladesh has been called the most dangerous occupation in the world.  This paper examines the historical basis for the development of asbestos-related health hazards arising from shipbreaking operations in developing countries, such as Bangladesh, by using a world-systems framework in combination with the normalization of deviance theory.  Using this historiographical approach, the analysis focuses on the asbestos caused health hazards faced by the shipbreaking laborers, their families, and others in the area that arise from the asbestos fibers liberated from the vessels.  This analysis then identifies and discusses the practical limitations that prevent those affected from pursuing any remedies, either globally or under Bangladesh political system and law, to compensate for developing asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma, or other asbestos-related illnesses. 

Having set the foundation for the significant risk of injury combined with the lack of remedies available to those most vulnerable, this paper examines whether a right of action should exist that can be brought in a more meaningful platform such as in the United States. This paper analyzes whether such a right of action is justified using concepts such as illegality, justice, morality, ethics, and righteousness, and given the facts arising from (1) the contacts which the United States has with shipbuilding and shipping, (2) the ships which were originally manufactured in the United States that have then been scrapped in Bangladesh, and (3) the financial benefits earned by United States based companies that are ancillary to facilitating the global use of the vessels.  This analysis also identifies the difficulties in making such claims.  Some of these difficulties arise in Bangladesh, such as the culture, language, and the lack of money and technology available to identify the involved disease.  Other difficulties arise in the United States, including the limitations of the trust payouts, jurisdictional restraints of the court system, and the development of information identifying the manufacturers and suppliers of the asbestos installed on the vessels during their construction. 

The paper does not discuss the exact mechanisms for providing jurisdiction such as the violation of any specific treaties, conventions or laws.  The author’s intent is that once the reader agrees that United States jurisdiction should be appropriate under the concepts discussed in this article for at least some of the asbestos-related claims, then the legal mechanisms to facilitate those claims will be the subject of further analysis.

Key Words: Shipbreaking, Asbestos, Normalization of Deviance, World-Systems, Bangladesh, Asbestos Bankruptcy Trusts.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments or email me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com. Thank you. Marty