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Should Africa start a proper conversation on banning asbestos?
FILE PHOTO: A boulder containing chrysotile, or white asbestos, lies at the Cana Brava mine in Minacu, northern Goias State, January 18, 2013. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File Photo
The United States of America declared on Monday that asbestos, a carcinogen with serious effects on public health, would no longer be allowed. Although the dangerous substance has been outlawed in a number of other nations, is Africa prepared to discuss its prohibition?
The facts
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the mineral is found in products such as automotive breaks, sheet gaskets, vehicle brakes and lining. Despite this, the country believes continuous exposure to this mineral could pose significant health risks such as cancers.
“Asbestos has harmed people across the country for decades, and under President Biden’s leadership, we are taking decisive action to ban its use and advance this administration’s historic environmental justice agenda,” White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair, Brenda Mallory said.
Mallory added that after decades of insufficient safeguards, this decision represents a significant advancement in chemical safety and advances President Biden’s Cancer Moonshot aim of eliminating cancer as we know it.
The arguments
Although the US joined over 50 countries to ban the mineral, its use among Africans pose some questions. Out of 70 countries that imposed a ban on asbestos, Africa represents only seven of those.
They include; Egypt, Gabon, South Africa, Mozambique, Mauritius, Algeria and Djibouti. These nations no longer rely on asbestos use of any kind. This is due to the looming public health effects that the mineral is said to possess.
According to a BBC report, asbestos is linked to 40,000 US deaths every year from lung cancer, mesothelioma and other cancers.
For most African countries, asbestos have not been banned as they are used for various purposes and even extraction in key mines.
In 2008, South Africa which is known for its mining exploits imposed a total ban on the use of asbestos.
But key issues surrounding the danger around of asbestos still lack some sensitization in major parts of Africa. There still remains continued production of asbestos and export of the mineral to developing and industrialised countries.
For instance, China has been accused of spending larges sums of advertising funds to spread misinformation about the harmlessness of the product.
At the moment, Western government’s continue to enforce a ban on the use of asbestos. Efforts to ban the mineral in the US date back to Donald’s Trump’s presidency which later stalled.
In the 1980s, campaigns to ban asbestos rose and surged forcing many schools across the US to remove the mineral from building on the back of health fears.
