15 December 2011, Manila–The Associated Labor Unions (ALU) appealed to the Labor department to intervene and save thousands of Philippine central bank employees from an ongoing improper removal and disposal of cancerous asbestos and asbestos-containing materials at the BSP building in Manila. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines — A labor organization appealed Thursday to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to conduct an inspection of toxic wire gauzes sold in Rizal Avenue, Manila and impose safety product labeling to warn the public of its asbestos content. Read the rest of this entry »

THE Associated Labor Union (ALU) called upon the Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education and all state, private schools and universities nationwide to ban the use of all wire gauzes that contains cancerous asbestos from their classrooms and laboratories. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite the assurance of the Department of Education (DepEd) that there are enough “safeguards” in schools to prevent asbestos, the Associated Labor Unions’ (ALU) Ban Asbestos Philippines has maintained that the use of all wire gauzes that contain cancerous asbestos be banned from all classrooms and laboratories. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – Saying teachers and students are prone to cancer and other diseases due to exposure to asbestos in classrooms and laboratories, the Associated Labor Union (ALU) yesterday called on the Department of Education and Commission on Higher Education yesterday to ban the use of asbestos in colleges and universities nationwide. Read the rest of this entry »

ALU News Release

Ban asbestos campaign gathers students’ signatures to hasten approval of Ban Asbestos Bills HB 896 & SB 89

23 August 2011, Quezon City— The Associated Labor Unions’ (ALU) advocacy on asbestos begins today to hold a series of lectures to senior public high school students in Quezon City about the risks of asbestos to their health, and petition legislators to hasten approval into law pending bills banning the use of the cancerous dust. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines — A labor group has lauded the leadership in the House of Representatives for including a measure proposing a ban on the use of cancerous asbestos in the construction industry as one of the priority bills for the second term of the 15th Congress. Read the rest of this entry »

With the health and safety of the country’s workforce as one of its paramount priorities, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday issued a call strongly supporting the bid against asbestos use as it pushes for its inclusion in the list of chemicals identified as hazardous to both health and environment. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, representatives from 143 countries meet in Geneva to debate whether chrysotile asbestos, the kind mined mainly in Canada, should be added to an international treaty regulating the trade in hazardous chemicals.
Asbestos is a mineral considered an employment savior in Quebec, a carcinogenic killer elsewhere and a dominant industrial substance in certain developing countries.

Part one of The Current began with a clip from Ken Takahashi, a professor of environmental epidemiology at the university of Occupational and Environmental Health in Kitakyushu City, Japan. Ken just published a study in the journal Respirology about asbestos-related deaths in Asia.

Today, representatives from 143 countries meet in Geneva and will discuss whether, chrysotile asbestos, the kind mined mainly in Canada, should be added to an international treaty regulating the trade in hazardous chemicals. Asbestos remains an important export for Quebec and Canada has been anxious to keep asbestos off the list.

iOur first guest was Kathleen Ruff, a Senior Human Rights Advisor to the Rideau Institute and a co-ordinator of the Rotterdam Alliance. She was in Smithers, British Columbia.

The Industry Minister, Christian Paradis, was not available to join us today. But he has long defended Canada’s asbestos exports.In a statement, the Industry Ministry in Ottawa told us the Canadian government has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile asbestos for more than thirty years.

People opposed to asbestos in the Philippines recently succeeded in getting their government to change course. The Manila government has agreed to endorse adding asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention’s list of hazardous materials. But since the anti-asbestos campaign began nearly eight years ago, imports of the mineral to the Philippines have more than doubled.

Gerard Seno has been a leader in the campaign to ban asbestos in the Philippines and globally. He’s vice president of the biggest confederation of labor federations in the Philippines, the Trade Union Congress. –http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/news-promo/2011/06/20/asbestos-in-developing-countries/?fb_ref=thecurrent-fb_like&fb_source=home_oneline