Mesothelioma News

Russia, the world's leading producer of asbestos, protested as an international forum in Moscow urged a global ban on the use of the material because of health risks.

"It's just a PR campaign when they say that asbestos can kill," said Viktor Ivanov, head of the Chrysotile Association, an industry group based in the Russian town of Asbestos in the Ural mountains region.

Yevgeny Kovalevsky, a forum delegate from the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, said: "For the general population, there aren't significant risks... I haven't seen a single scientific study that shows the need for a ban." 

Meanwhile, international public health experts at the first World Social Security Forum in the Russian capital urged a global ban, saying that up to 100,000 people die every year of asbestos-related diseases.

This issue is a commentary by Russian Chrysotile Association to the XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work and the International Safety and Health Exhibition (KISS-2008) held in Seoul, South Korea, on June 29 - July 02, 2008.

The Russian chrysotile industry continues the information campaign "A Big Lie of "Ban Asbestos", which goal is to inform the public about true reasons of the anti-asbestos campaign, about the falsity of objectives of its promoters. The information campaign is usually in the form of answers to your questions, but this issue is a commentary to the XVIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work and the International Safety and Health Exhibition (KISS-2008) held in Seoul, South Korea, on June 29 - July 02, 2008.