Global asbestos lobby keeps the asbestos market going despite proof that asbestos causes cancer and other fatal diseases.

Heard of asbestos? It is the terrible toxin used in insulation and construction that can kill you by giving you lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.

It is banned or restricted in at least 52 countries due to its great danger.

In another sad case of anti-environmental activism, however, the news is that a global network of asbestos lobbyists have spent about $100 million on maintaining a market for asbestos around the world, especially in the developing world. This is what an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found.

Despite knowing that asbestos is a carcinogen, it is still being widely used around the world due to immoral marketing.

As a result of this marketing campaign, asbestos is booming among the rural poor in India and a federal inspector has had to battle the industry for a quarter of a century in Brazil. Russia, producing almost 1 million tons of asbestos each year, is also a major user of it, and China is now the world’s largest asbestos consumer.

“It’s totally unethical. It’s almost criminal. Asbestos cannot be used safely,” said Jukka Takala, director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, with regards to this completely immoral asbestos marketing campaign.

Does this short-term profits over people’s lives and health campaign remind you of anything (i.e. the long-surviving tobacco lobby; the anti-climate change lobby; the big ag chemical and GMO lobby)?

via ecopolitology

Like this article? Connect with me on Facebook or Twitter

Photo Credit: brunkforbraun via flickr