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Mumbai, India
A disused sack of asbestos cement lies half-buried under a mound of broken asbestos cement roofing in a busy street in Mumbai. India is one of the world’s major users of chrysotile (white) asbestos. According to a report published this February in leading international medical journal The Lancet, between 2000 – 2007 India’s asbestos usage rose from roughly 125,000 metric tonnes to about 300,000. Bolstered by asbestos import tariffs that have been reduced from 78% in the mid-1990s to 15% by 2004, the country’s asbestos-cement industry is increasing by roughly 10% every year, employing in excess of 100,000 people. Furthermore, since 2003, companies no longer require a special licence to import chrysotile asbestos.
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