The number of work-related deaths caused by asbestos is increasing,  according to a report by the Trade Union Congress (TUC). This is despite a ban on new uses of the fibre in the workplace. The TUC says 4,000 people die of asbestos-related diseases every year -   more than are killed on the roads. In 20 years' time it will become the largest single cause of male mortality  under the age of 65, it predicted. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "Asbestos has already been  responsible for the deaths of many workers and it is going to go on killing  people for many years to come. Over 3,000 people a year die of the disease in the UK and numbers are   predicted to rise to 10,000 a year by 2020. It can take up to 40 years for symptoms to show.

July 2000

Le Monde diplomatique: CANADA Vs. FRANCE: WTO RULES . The asbestos conspiracy

Even though it is nearly 40 years since asbestos was scientifically shown to cause cancer and it has now claimed thousands of lives, the WTO is examining a complaint by Canada, which exports 99% of its output, against France, which banned it in 1997. The WTO's Dispute Settlement Body is quite capable of finding in favour of the purveyors of death and the governments that so shamelessly support them, since it habitually puts "freedom" for trade before any other consideration. Since the outrageous ruling on hormone-treated beef, anything seems possible....

by PATRICK HERMAN and ANNIE THEBAUD-MONY * Journalist and research director at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) respectively, and co-ordinators of the international Ban Asbestos Network.