Several labor advocacy groups yesterday called for a complete ban on the use of asbestos, a highly toxic mineral commonly used in construction and to fireproof materials, as occupational exposure to it has caused an increase in asbestos-related diseases.
Asbestos-induced lung cancer has increased among men and women and people who work in professions with high levels of exposure to asbestos dust are between 2.86 and 5.78 times more likely to develop asbestos-related cancer, National Health Research Institutes researcher and physician Lee Jyuhn-hsiarn (李俊賢) said.
The occurrence of malignant mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer of the cells that form a protective lining that covers many internal organs, has been increasing rapidly, from 40 cases per year from 1997 to 2008 to more than 73 in 2010, suggesting that asbestos-related occupational diseases have peaked, Lee said.
Taiwan Labor Front secretary-general Son Yu-liam (孫友聯) said asbestos is banned in more than 50 nations, but the material is still legal in Taiwan, adding that the nation has imported more than 2,000 tonnes of asbestos in the past three years.
Taiwan Occupational Safety and Health Link director Cheng Ya-wen (鄭雅文) said that asbestos is the primary cause of occupational cancer in the world, accounting for more than 30 percent of the occupational diseases indemnified by labor insurance in Germany and Japan, while Japan has a special relief act to compensate for asbestos-related diseases due to non-occupational exposure.
However, the Bureau of Labor Insurance recognized less than five asbestos-related diseases each year, suggesting a serious underestimation, Cheng said, adding that symptoms of asbestos-related diseases generally take 20 years to develop after initial exposure and therefore a long-term tracking of high-risk groups is necessary.
“Asbestos-related diseases are not a problem of the past. It is ongoing and on the rise, but the government has not taken proper measures regarding workers’ asbestos exposure and disease management,” Cheng said.
The groups called on the government to impose an immediate ban on asbestos, establish a medical database to track and manage the health of high-risk groups, and re-examine the recognition and compensation system of occupational diseases.
The bureau said that people who develop asbestos-related diseases could apply for disability benefits within five years of diagnosis.
The Environmental Protection Administration said that it has banned asbestos in construction and piping, and that asbestos could only be used in brake pads, while a full ban would be enacted in 2018, but products containing asbestos would still be allowed to be imported under the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ regulations.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
RSS