Ban Asbestos Network India (BANI)

Ban Asbestos Network India was launched in April 2002. The first meeting of this group was arranged by Mr. Ravi Agarwal, Director M/s Toxics Link, an NGO to which Dr. Barry Castleman, author of Book – ASBESTOS – Medical and Legal Aspects and Ms Fernanda Giannasi, Coordinator for Latin America of Ban Asbestos Citizen Virtual Network were invited. Dr. T K Joshi, Head, Centre for Environmental & Occupational Health, LNJP Hospital, New Delhi was also present at the meeting to which media was also invited.

BANI is being funded by multinationals from EU who want to promote their substitute products in the Indian market. Also active support is being provided by the Steel lobby in India which gains in case manufacture of Asbestos Cement Sheets and Asbestos Cement Pipes is discontinued as sale of their products would increase manifold.

The campaign launched by BANI for ban of Asbestos is totally misplaced and misleading. Their campaign is not based on any Science but purely dictated by vested interests. The Activists from this group are quoting data/experience from Asbestos usage in the EU, which has no relevance to Indian usage (ref - Usage in Western World not relevant in India ). Their attempt is to mislead the general public and policy makers, without drawing the distinction in the asbestos usage in EU and Indian conditions.

In Europe , Crocidolite & Amosite varieties were used extensively which lead to health related problems. In India , we use only Chrysotile white asbestos which does not pose any health risk when used under controlled conditions during the manufacture of AC products. (ref - Asbestos & Health).

Besides meeting Government officials in various Ministries and distributing unsubstantiated literature which has no bearing to Indian usage/application, BANI has been organizing Workshops/Seminars seeking a ban on Asbestos.

An International Conference on “Asbestos Exposure in India ” was organized by T K Joshi, at New Delhi on September 12, 2004. Speakers from USA , Japan & Canada – all ban asbestos activists were invited to present their papers. Recently in April 2006, a t a Sensitisation workshop on Asbestosis organized by Government of Jharkhand at Ranchi , Dr. Joshi invited Dr. Elihu Ritcher, Head, Unit of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hebrew University , Israel and Dr. Arthur Frank, Prof. Occupational Health, Philadelphia , US to speak against use of Asbestos in India .

In 2002, BANI through an Advocate Mr. Jayjit Ganguly filed a PIL in Kolkata High Court seeking a ban on the use of AC pipes. The case was disposed off by the High Court in 2004 in favour of the Industry. Meanwhile, in May 2004 BANI activists filed a PIL through an NGO - Kalyaneshwari in the Supreme Court of India seeking a total ban on use of Asbestos in India.

Further they keep authoring articles seeking a ban on Asbestos Industry in national newspapers from time to time. Recently BANI activists used the media coverage given to the dismantling of Frenchship ‘Clemenceau' to voice their views and seek a ban on the Asbestos Industry in India. Dr. Joshi appeared on TV panel discussions and claimed that controlled use of Chrysotile was not possible and hence its import should be banned.