Asbestos in Russia
Like India, Russia has also become known in recent years for its attempts to skirt around topics involving the dangers of asbestos as they attempt to maintain a market for one of their largest exports.
According to a study published in the June 2005 newsletter for the
European Trade Union Institute’s Health and Safety Department, the
former Soviet Union/Russia produced approximately 67.1 billion tons of
asbestos between 1900 and 2000 and took over the position as the leading
producer of the fibers in 1975.
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Production of asbestos and asbestos products has continued into the
new millennium as Russia has not yet instituted any types of mesothelioma laws
or bans regarding it. In addition to a number of studies from Russian
doctors who have gone so far as to declare properly handled chrystotile
(or white asbestos) as safe, other lobbyists and media outlets have
attempted to frame pressure from the United States and European Union to
ban asbestos as an attempt to “westernize” the country.
Despite the prevalence of asbestos throughout Russia, it is difficult
to find definitive data on how many Russians are afflicted with mesothelioma, asbestosis, or other lung cancers due to asbestos exposure.
According to an unnamed source interviewed for a report from the
International Ban Asbestos Secretariat at a Mesothelioma Symposium in
2009, there isn’t public information available concerning death rates
associated with diseases related with asbestos. The reason for doing so,
the source adds, is to support beliefs within the country that white
asbestos is safe as long as they are not broken.
“But they say nothing about releases into the air which are faced by
citizens in the communities nearby asbestos production factories,” the
source added.
An article published on Slate in 2009 profiled a
town with a population of 76,000 named Asbest. While similar to the town
of Asbestos, Canada in that it was developed and sustained almost
entirely from work done at a nearby asbestos mine, Asbest still houses
an active mine that is owned by the company UralAsbest.