Asbestos lobbyists determined to sabotage UN Rotterdam Convention

 18 Asbestos lobbyists will be attending the UN Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva in May. Their goal? To protect the asbestos industry’s profits by defeating health protections The goal of the Rotterdam Convention is to protect people from being harmed by hazardous substances. But the asbestos industry sees health protections as interfering with their profits. Read More:

Asbestos kills, that's for sure | Bangkok Post: opinion

The Public Health Ministry under the leadership of Minister Pradit Sintanawarong is never short of controversies. Amid a severe shortage of physicians in rural areas, Dr Pradit issued a policy to cut their hardship allowances. Effective treatment requires physicians to spend time with patients to gather details of their symptoms and personal backgrounds so they can make an accurate diagnosis. Yet the minister imposed a pay-for-performance system that rewards physicians on the quantity of tasks performed and requires doctors to document each and every task, which turns hospitals into factory assembly lines and a hell of paperwork. Read More:

Abu Dhabi campaign keeps 3 million labourers safe in the heat - The National

ABU DHABI // A campaign to save lives by educating outdoor labourers about the dangers of working in the summer sun has reached more than 3 million people, the health authority says. Read More:

Anti-mining activist from Indonesia wins top green honor

Aleta Baun, an activist who led a movement to block a destructive mine in a remote part of Indonesia, was today awarded the prestigious Goldman Prize, the top honor for grassroots environmental campaigners. Read More:

India, Known for Outsourcing, Now Wants to Make Its Own Chips - NYTimes.com

NEW DELHI — The government of India, home to many of the world’s leading software outsourcing companies, wants to replicate that success by creating a homegrown industry for computer hardware. But unlike software, which requires little infrastructure, building electronics is a far more demanding business. Chip makers need vast quantities of clean water and reliable electricity. Computer and tablet assemblers depend on economies of scale and easy access to cheap parts, which China has spent many years building up. Read More:

Asbestos Life and Death in Australia

Asbestos, Australia's “worst industrial menace,” remains a potent threat to its citizens, a decade after its use was banned. It is believed that up to two million tonnes of asbestos were used over a fifty year period. Australian society embraced asbestos technology with an almost unrivalled gusto; as domestic production of blue and white asbestos was insufficient to satisfy demand, 1.5 million tonnes of fiber were imported.1 Australia is paying a high price for its love affair with asbestos; whereas it had once led the world in per capita asbestos use, it now leads in the incidence of asbestos cancer. Over the next two decades, it has been predicted that up to 40,000 Australians will be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease. Asbestos Life and Death in Australia:

MoEF asked to finalise Gadgil panel report on Western Ghats

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has asked the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to take expeditious steps to finalise the report of Gadgil Committee or any "other panel" set up to study the environmental sensitivity and ecological significance of the Western Ghats. Read More:

Amidst the silica dust - The Hindu

Amidst the silica dust - The Hindu: The shortened lifespan of the quarry workers of Uttar Pradesh is spent breaking stones and residing among the pollution- laden boulders Mired with sandy roads and rocky terrain, the landscape in south-western Allahabad creates a remarkable mirage under the blue sky. Some of the larger rocks here have sizeable craters formed in them -- a sign of their depletion over time, by an activity that is hazardous yet critical to the survival of many. The ground water accumulated on the surface of these depressions make them appear like lakes, adding to the visual serenity.

Union Minister asks Governors to cancel mining leases in Agency areas - The Hindu

Union Minister asks Governors to cancel mining leases in Agency areas - The Hindu: Unrelenting in his battle against destruction of tribal habitations for exploitation of forestland and resources, Union Minister for Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo has written letters to Governors of various States asking them to cancel mining leases in the Agency areas.