COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

India: Toxic Trade Is India investing in a future health crisis by importing asbestos from Canada?

More than 50 countries have banned asbestos products but India cannot get enough. It imports the mineral from Canada, risking a future health crisis.

Asbestos products have a deadly reputation.

Inhaling asbestos fibres can lead to a slow and painful death.

But in India, asbestos illness is under-diagnosed and mostly unrecognised.

And with the proliferation of factories making asbestos products, India is on the cusp of a devastating health crisis.

Workers have little safety equipment and if they contract a respiratory disease or cancer, few are paid compensation.

However, India cannot get enough of the product and it is a first-world nation that is supplying it.

Canada will not use asbestos itself but it is selling it by the shipload to India.