How to Research the Difficult; Ship Breaker Exposure to Asbestos

I am beginning my book project dealing with asbestos exposures arising from ship building, seafaring, and ship breaking (scrapping) that will be my focus for at least a couple of years. Fingers crossed on the detailed research and pulling it off informatively and with an interested readership.

Right now, ship breaking is likely the most dangerous trade in the world. I know, I know, some of you are saying that this claim is only the “flavor of the month”, but just search using the Hathi Digital Trust or Science Direct websites and you will be astounded at what goes on as they break these ships apart. The 203 page book entitled The Most Dangerous Job on the Planet” – Ship-breaking in Bangladesh by M. Jamaluddin Ahmed and Md. Nazrul Islam can be yours in electronic format if you just email me asking to make it so.

Asbestos exposure is only a small part of the risks taken by the tradesmen involved with ship breaking as they work to feed their families and keep Bangladesh and themselves from being even more impoverished. The same holds true for other places such as India, Pakistan, and other developing countries. That being said, the asbestos risk is significant enough to be the subject of a number of scholarly studies and papers. Just look at the following three from Bangladesh, India, and Taiwan, all dealing solely with that asbestos exposure from ship breaking.

I hope that you will join me on this journey as part of my research for ship building, seafarers, and ship breaking (scrapping) and, if you have any thoughts, let me know about the topics you would like covered by leaving a comment or emailing me at TheAsbestosBlog@gmail.com.

Also, a shout out to NGO Shipbreaking Platform based on the EU which deals with these types of issues on a daily basis. Here is the link to their donation page: https://shipbreakingplatform.org/fundraising-campaign-2021/?fbclid=IwAR1mlA23ergYfS7xOmIC5RXHXxWCJFUCfy4B5aEf6kYFltbgEqPR7adzbV8. If you care about Human Rights, this is an organization seriously worth your support. Just click on the link and learn.

Thank you and a healthy New Year to all. Marty