Silicosis screening underway in Coimbatore - The Times of India

COIMBATORE: The health department in Coimbatore has started screening workers of silicosis prone industries and has so far completed screening in two industries without identifying positive cases.Read More:

Breaking the chrysotile habit: Track the decline of Canada’s asbestos industry

 In last week’s budget, the federal government promised $50-million over seven years to help diversify the economies of two Quebec towns: Thetford Mines and Asbestos. Both communities historically relied on asbestos mining as the biggest driver of their economies. And with the decline of the asbestos industry, the local economies have suffered. Read More:

Federal budget finally buries asbestos industry - Winnipeg Free Press

 OTTAWA -- If the asbestos industry in Canada was on life-support, last week's federal budget finally pulled the plug. It was hidden midway through the budget papers, amid the more flashy and noticeable cuts to the cost of baby clothes and the "largest long-term federal commitment to Canadian infrastructure in our nation's history." "Supporting the Economic Transition of Communities Economically Linked to the Chrysotile Asbestos Industry," said the headline on page 241. Read More:

Breathing dust - Silicosis in Shankargarh, India

In the absence of safety gear, silica mine workers suffer the worst consequences Shankargarh, a block along the south-western fringes of Allahabad district in Uttar Pradesh, is widely known as a large supplier of silica sand to the glass industry.�The area is rocky and unfit for cultivation, leaving its major inhabitants- the Kol tribe, and Chamar and Kumbi castes little option but to engage in stone quarrying and sand mining. Read More:

Young women workers in China: Seeking a better life | China Labour Bulletin

After getting off work one evening at a Japanese-owned factory in the Pearl River Delta, a young woman walked in the Sunflower Women Workers Centre and picked up several copies of the centre’s newsletter: “I’m going to distribute it to my sisters at the factory,” she said proudly. The next day was 8 March, International Women’s Day, and the newsletter featured stories on the origin of Women’s Day and whether women workers in China are allowed to take the day off. Other stories included the dairy of two factory girls, a colloquial interpretation of labour law, and a training session on collective bargaining. Read More:

Disposal of Older Monitors Leaves a Hazardous Trail - NYTimes.com

Last year, two inspectors from California’s hazardous waste agency were visiting an electronics recycling company near Fresno for a routine review of paperwork when they came across a warehouse the size of a football field, packed with tens of thousands of old computer monitors and televisions. Read More:

Turin judge convicts 6 ex-Teksid managers in asbestos case

(ANSA) - Turin, March 15 - A judge in the northern Italian city of Turin convicted six ex-managers of Teksid, a leading iron-castings maker for the automotive industry, on charges related to the deaths and illnesses of workers presumed to be due to asbestos exposure at Teksid's Turin facilities. Read More: