USE OF ASBESTOS OVERSEAS

That this House notes with concern the continued use of asbestos in the Third World; further notes that work with asbestos in the United Kingdom is banned under the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002; recalls the consequences in Rochdale and elsewhere in the UK where asbestos was used or produced for the workers of Turner Brothers, whose machinery is now in use in the Third World; is shocked that the human rights of workers to health and to life are clearly being violated; and calls on the Government to work with the International Labour Organisation to ensure the implementation of the Convention Concerning Safety in the Use of Asbestos 1986 and the United Nations Environment Programme regarding the Stockholm Convention on Persistent and Organic Pollutants, a programme which has been repeatedly devalued by countries such as Canada and Russia, and further, to work towards a total ban on the use of asbestos.