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    • Atrocious conditions in Bangladesh tanneries

      Dhaka, Bangladesh (IRIN) – Despite working 12 hours a day and exposing herself to toxic chemicals, 55-year old Taslima Begum, a tannery worker in Hazaribagh, an industrial neighbourhood in Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, earns just US$40 per month. “Yes, the pay is very low and I know the health risks, but I don’t have other alternatives,” she said. The mother-of-five says she has no choice if she is to feed her family and ailing husband. Read More:

    • Hundreds Of Bangladesh Factory Workers Fall Sick From Suspected Contaminated Water

      Hundreds of employees of a Bangladesh garment factory near the capital fell sick on Wednesday after drinking suspected contaminated water in their workplace, police and factory officials said. “Primarily we suspect the water supply of the Starlight Sweaters factory was poisoned or contaminated,” local industrial police officer Mahfuzur Rahman told AFP from Gazipur, a suburb of Dhaka. Read More:

    • Scientific articles, intended to cast doubt on harm caused by chrysotile asbestos, were potentially part of a crime-fraud

       In a unanimous decision, five judges of a New York Appeal Court ruled (1) on June 6, 2013 that Georgia-Pacific must allow an in camera (private) review of documents and raw data related to eleven published research studies, funded by Georgia-Pacific, concerning the health effects of the company’s asbestos-containing joint compound (a product used in construction). Read More:

    • China: The electronic wastebasket of the world - CNN.com

      Guiyu, China (CNN) — Did you ever wonder what happens to your old laptop or cellphone when you throw it away? Chances are some of your old electronic junk will end up in China. According to a recent United Nations report, “China now appears to be the largest e-waste dumping site in the world.” E-waste, or electronic waste, consists of everything from scrapped TVs, refrigerators and air conditioners to that old desktop computer that may be collecting dust in your closet. Read More:

    • After Bangladesh, Seeking New Sources

      SEMARANG, Indonesia — Bennett Model helped pioneer the exporting of garments from China in 1975, the year before Mao Zedong died, and ever since, his New York fashion company has searched for other countries, from Guatemala to Vietnam to Indonesia, capable of supplying top retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. Read More:

    • China blames illegal mining as blasts toll reaches 40

       Beijing: The death toll from two separate colliery accidents in southwest China has risen to 40, even as the authorities blamed illegal mining for the tragedies. Rescuers have saved 80 miners, while 28 others were confirmed dead in the gas explosion that took place yesterday in Taozigou coal mine in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. Read More:

    • India reverses stand on asbestos at Rotterdam Convention meet | Down To Earth

      In a retrograde move, India opposed the listing of chrysotile asbestos under Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention at the sixth meeting of Conference of Parties (COP6) on May 8 in Geneva. Substances listed under Annex III of the Convention—a global treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relation to import of hazardous chemicals—require exporting countries to advise importing countries about the toxicity of the substances so that importers can give their prior informed consent (PIC) for trade. The Convention does not ban or limit trade in such hazardous substances. Read More:

    • Enough is Enough – Stop these Murders at Workplaces in Asia | ANROEV

       The Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational and Environmental Victims (ANROEV) is deeply saddened and outraged at the recent industrial disasters in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Within a spate of 8 months more than 1300 workers have died and the toll is still rising as the bodies are being pulled out of the Rana Plaza. Just when this statement is being written there is one more fire in a garment factory in Bangladesh killing more than 7 people. Read More:

    • EHP – The JPC-SE Position Statement on Asbestos

      Recently, the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the Societies of Epidemiology (SE), a consortium of national and international epidemiologic societies and organizations, released a statement calling for the global ban of asbestos use (JPC-SE 2012). This is not the first such call for an international ban (Collegium Ramazzini 2010), but it is a significant one because it is endorsed by 10 member organizations of the JPC-SE, numerous major epidemiologic and public health associations, and many epidemiologists (JPC-SE 2012). This position statement also highlights a case of global environmental injustice on a massive scale. Read More:

    • Rotterdam Convention in crisis, say civil society groups - Asian Ban Asbestos Network

      Civil society groups attending the Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva are expressing grave alarm that the Convention has been hijacked by the asbestos industry, which is determined to prevent the environmental and health protections of the Convention from being implemented. For the fourth time, a handful of countries allied to the asbestos industry have refused to allow chrysotile asbestos to be added to the Convention’s list of hazardous substances, even though the Convention’s expert scientific committee has repeatedly recommended that it be listed and even though it has been recognized that the listing of chrysotile asbestos meets all the criteria of the Convention. The committee’s conclusions are endorsed by all leading medical organisations and by the World Health Organisation. Read More:

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