A wind of change in India village of widows

In August this year, Dr Kapoor’s project, Khuli Saans, led to the formation of a district task force on silicosis, with him as its convenor. Former top cop and a member of Rajasthan State Human Rights Commission M.K. Devarajan formally launched the task force at a function held at, significantly, Arampura Jatav Basti, 20 kilometres from the district headquarters. DVS campaign bore more results in September-October: the state government agreed to give Rs100,000 each to 63 silicosis patients (out of 73, 10 have died so far, and eight widows have received the Rs300,000 package), and to grant them BPL status, which would make them eligible for various social welfare schemes. Meanwhile, DVS sent 314 fresh cases to NIMH in June; 149 of them have been diagnosed with silicosisRead More:

Asbestos Activist Alleges a Failure of Ethics

 Scientists and academics have a role to play to speak up against this ongoing corruption of public health policy which causes unnecessary disease and deaths.” That’s how Kathleen Ruff, an activist and founder of Rights on Canada has characterized at a recent one day conference in Montreal some of the research carried out at McGill University and the internal investigation of this alleged corruption of policy by the University. The conference (Asbestos: Dialogue for the Future) was called by the Faculty of Medicine to engage in a baseline discussion about what asbestos is, how it has been used historically and its impact on human health, and to participate in a dialogue for the future with respect to research policy, ethics, and the broader context,” according to the University. Asbestos Activist Alleges a Failure of Ethics:

Asbestos: Europe's Past, Asia's Future

Even as French asbestos victims get ready to take to the streets in protest over judicial inaction on a notorious asbestos scandal, Indian court officials have sanctioned the construction of yet another Rajasthan asbestos factory despite vocal and active protests by local people (see: Patna High Court Ruling). The use of asbestos in France has led to an epidemic responsible for thousands of deaths every year, a situation which may, tragically, be replicated in India. It seems that even in the 21st century no amount of knowledge is enough to curtail the unbridled use of a substance that is commercially viable even if it is also deadly dangerous. Asbestos: Europe's Past, Asia's Future:

Asbestos consumption on the rise in Asia

Sugio Furuya, coordinator of the Asian Ban Asbestos Network, or A-BAN, has told Radio Australia's Asia Pacific consumption among many Asian countries is still on the rise, although countries like Japan, South Korea and Australia have banned the use of asbestos. "Asbestos consumption in Asia is accounting for 70 per cent of global asbestos consumption," Mr Furuya said. "More than 90 per cent of asbestos is used for construction materials and the people touching asbestos are not informed about [its] hazard." Read More:

BBC News - Foxconn admits labour violation at China factory

Foxconn, the world's biggest contract electronics maker, has admitted student interns worked shifts at a factory in China that were in violation of its company policies. The firm, which makes products for some the world's biggest brands, has been under scrutiny for labour practices. It had admitted to hiring underage interns at the same unit last year. Foxconn said actions had been taken to bring the factory "into full compliance with our code and policies". read more:

South Korean Premiere About Factory Sick Workers a Coup for Independent Film

When South Korean director Kim Tae-yun said he wanted to make a film about workers who came down with leukemia and other rare diseases during the time they worked at Samsung Electronics Co. factories, just about everyone told him he would struggle to secure financial backing. Two years later, the film has premiered at the ongoing Busan International Film Festival‒in part thanks to crowd-sourced funds from nearly 7,000 individuals who paid for more than a quarter of the billion-won ($932,700) budget. Close to half was self-funded and the rest has been made as IOUs. It marks a rare coup for Korean cinema, where independent producers struggle to secure funding without support from major film studios. Critics say close family and business ties between major movie companies and the nation’s biggest corporations prevent films with negative portrayals of those conglomerates from being made. The film has already won a mention in a recent report by U.S. watchdog Freedom House as an example of progress for South Korea’s freedom of expression. Titled “Another Family,” the film is based on a true story of a working-class family whose daughter went to work at Samsung semiconductor factory, contracted leukemia during her time there and died from the disease in 2007.
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[Wall Street Journal] Bangladesh Garment Factories Often Evade Monitoring

On a recent Saturday night, however, bright fluorescent lights flickered well past 10 p.m. as workers inside furiously stitched children's skinny jeans bound for�Gap�Inc.'s Old Navy stores. The company regularly keeps many of its 4,500 workers late-sometimes until 5 a.m.-to meet production targets set by retailers like Gap,�VF�Corp. and Tommy Hilfiger parent PVH Corp. The workers themselves sometimes welcome the extra pay, but the practice apparently conflicts with the retailers' stated policies and a Bangladeshi law that prohibits more than 10 hours of work a day, including two hours of overtime. Read More: