Western Economic Racism

What happens when there is a boom in India? The West cashes in. As India prospers and their construction industry grows, a deadly demand for asbestos is on the increase. One of the suppliers for this product is Canada where chrysotile asbestos is banned. So how does the Canadian Government justify its export? Simple it is not banned in India.

Chrysotile(asbestos) open-pit mine, Thetford Mines, Quebec 

India thinks the World Health Organisation is wrong. WHO state, "Exposure to asbestos causes a wide range of diseases, such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis..." to name a few. In Australia the dangers of asbestos are well known with home renovators now being reminded of its fatal consequences.

WHO Asbestos

Economics is the real reason this trade, which has been going on for sometime, is still occurring. Asbestos is a cheap building material, easy to use and thanks to Canada readily available. Of course this is all morally wrong and there is a history of the West taking advantage of a developing India.

The Indian Bhopal Disaster in 1984, at a pesticide plant in which over 3800 people were killed, is a perfect example of Western double standards. The Hazardous Installations Directorate. Health and Safety Executive; 2004. Accident Summary, Union Carbide India Ltd., Bhopal, India: December 3, 1984 states, "The events in Bhopal revealed that expanding industrialization in developing countries without concurrent evolution in safety regulations could have catastrophic consequences." And yet 27 years later the citizens of India are firmly on their way to another one of these catastrophes. 


The Bhopal disaster and its aftermath: a review


Online sites such as http://www.canadianasbestosexports.ca/Home and http://banasbestosindia.blogspot.com/2011/04/group-protests-asbestos-industry.html are drawing attention to the issue. In Australia the public and government might say this is a Canada/India issue but what it really is is a form of economic racism where Western societies place the worth of their lives above others.