OSASCO: BIRTHPLACE OF THE 21ST CENTURY BAN ASBESTOS MOVEMENT
Laurie Kazan-Allen
Presented at: Asbestos Seminar
Osasco, Brazil, April 2006

The solidarity which underpins the successful mobilization of the virtual asbestos
network is nowadays cited as a classic example of 21st century grass-roots activism. In
just a few short years, public, political and professional knowledge of the global asbestos
scourge has gone from obscurity to prominence; bodies representing civil society such as
the International Labor Organization, the World Health Organization and the United
Nations are actively engaged in the asbestos debate. More than forty national
governments have asbestos bans in place and many more countries have imposed strict
regulations on the use of asbestos. Asbestos victims’ groups have multiplied so that
individuals and families affected by asbestos disease no longer suffer in silence,marginalized by their illness.
In Japan asbestos has become front page news; in the last two years, asbestos has been
the subject of numerous news programs and TV documentaries. The Japanese
government which had long ignored the harsh reality experienced daily by asbestossufferers has been forced to introduce schemes for medical care and compensation. As ofMarch 27, 2006 a new law to compensate asbestos victims and bereaved relatives cameinto force. Under the law, former workers who suffer from pleural effusions andasbestos-related lung cancer can claim workers’ compensation; all mesothelioma patientsare eligible for financial assistance. Although there are loopholes in the new scheme, thelaw marks a change in the Government’s attitude from one of total neglect to one ofgrudging recognition. These improvements did not occur spontaneously; they are theproduct of years of work by asbestos victims’ groups in Japan. In November 2004, thesecond Global Asbestos Congress (GAC) was held in Tokyo; this event transformed theperception of the national asbestos epidemic from a hidden problem experienced byindividuals and families throughout the country to a high profile media issue. During theopening ceremony of this conference, the organisers spoke of their inspirational visit to
Osasco and said that on the flight back to Japan from Brazil they had already begun
making plans for GAC 2004.
The Global Asbestos Congress 2000 (GAC 2000): Past, Present and Future (Congresso
Mundial do Amianto: Passado, Presente e Futuro) was inspirational for those of us
fortunate enough to have attended it and for others who read about it. It marked a new
beginning of the global campaign to ban asbestos and obtain justice for asbestos victims.
GAC 2000 showed us the latent power of the virtual citizens’ global network; itdemonstrated that from diversity comes strength and from decentralization comes ideas.
New strategies are born out of the confluence of information and experiences of network
members; our tactics evolve in response to the ever-increasing information flow. The
ground-work for this responsive and flexible approach was laid in Osasco. The
importance of bringing together asbestos victims, relatives, asbestos experts, engineers,sociologists, trade unionists, politicians, doctors, environmentalists, artists, students, civilservants, community members and public campaigners was clearly illustrated by thesuccess of the Osasco Congress. When the Mayor of Osasco, Dr. Silas Bortolosso, theHonorary President of the Congress, told delegates that Osasco would be one of the first
Brazilian towns to ban asbestos, he set a positive tone which imbued the conference witha sense of optimism and hope that persisted throughout the event.
None of this would have been possible without the months of work which went into
preparing the ground work for the Congress. The pioneering vision of the Brazilian
organisers and their understanding of the need to make GAC an inclusive event wereinsightful. By obtaining the active participation of the local community as well as
national groups and foreign experts, they obtained the practical, political, commercial andfinancial support needed to make the event the outstanding success it was. Their fresh
perspective brought a new dynamism into what could have been formulaic and stale. The
presence of ABREA members in their ABREA tee shirts was a constant reminder of the
top priority at the GAC; it was not discussion for the sake of academic pursuit! The
immediate aim of every session and workshop was to identify strategies to assist asbestos
victims; the long-term aim was to increase the momentum for a global ban on asbestos.
On a personal note, I must beg your indulgence while I take a few moments to express
my appreciation to ABREA, its advisers and supporters. In the frantic days before theOsasco Congress, an international colleague asked me a question for which I did not havea ready reply. Being a bit annoyed by that, she said: “You are out of your depth. You
have never done anything like this before.” My response was: “No one has ever done
anything like this before.” Working together we broke the mold and by so doing weshowed what could be done. I have never forgotten the debt of gratitude that I owe to mydear friends Eliezer João de Souza, Aldo Vicentin, José Jesus Pessoa (the unforgettableZé da Capa), Dr. João de Souza Filho and, last but by no means least, my dear friend andsister Fernanda Giannasi. Since Osasco, I have participated in many asbestos conferencesand events; I have never met anyone as unflappable and supportive as Chen Wan Hang,
the GAC’s Mr. FixIt! Please accept my heartfelt thanks and know that the work I havedone since GAC 2000 owes much to the lessons learned in Osasco.
Some months ago the newspapers in Europe were full of stories about the decision ofthe French government to send a redundant warship to India for scrapping. TheClemenceau, formerly one of the country’s most prestigious ships, contained up to 1,000
tonnes of asbestos plus quantities of PCBs, lead and mercury a small matter which theFrench Government chose to keep from the public, the courts and the media. In its desire
to profit from one of the world’s dirtiest industries, the Government attempted to sidestep international protocols and global agreements designed to prevent the export ofhazardous waste. Working together, asbestos victims’ groups in France and internationalNGOs mounted a highly visible campaign to expose the hypocrisy of a government withstrict national laws for minimizing occupational exposure to asbestos which was prepared
to expose unprotected workers in Indian scrapyards to a cocktail of toxics.

The groups which campaigned to prevent this from happening represented a range ofinterests including asbestos victims, the environment, human rights, clean ship-breaking
and the ban asbestos movement:
France• Ban Asbestos France• ANDEVA: National Asbestos Victims’ Association• The Anti-Asbestos Committee at Juisseau UniversityIndia• The Corporate Accountability DeskInternational Bodies• Greenpeace• The Basel Action Network• The European Federation for Transport and Environment• The North Sea Foundation• The International Federation of Human Rights• Bellona• NGO Platform for Clean Ship-breaking• The International Ban Asbestos Network• The International Ban Asbestos Secretariat
The media-grabbing antics of Greenpeace were supplemented by judicial actions in thehighest administrative court in France (Le Conseil d’Etat) and appeals to India’s SupremeCourt. On February 15, 2006 Le Conseil d’Etat ordered the French Government tosuspend the transfer of the ship; the same day President Chirac announced that the 27,000
tonne ship, then in the Arabian Sea, would be brought back to France.
Whilst the saga of the Clemenceau ended with a victory for civil society, many morecontaminated ships wind up in ship-breakers yards in India, Bangladesh, China andPakistan. Some are even sold to Latin American governments. The Foch, sister ship tothe Clemenceau, was sold to Brazil in November 2000 for $50 million. Although aspokesman for the Brazilian Navy says that 55 tonnes of asbestos were stripped from theship, now renamed the porta-aviões São Paulo, before it left France, the quantity andcondition of the asbestos-containing products which remained onboard were unknown.
The Clemenceau and the Foch were more than just sister ships. They were identical inmany dimensions and facets:
Characteristic

Clemenceau

Foch

Ordered
Displacement

1955
24200 tonnes(32800 full load)
265 m

1955
24200 tonnes(32800 full load)
265 m

LengthWidthDraught
Propulsion

SpeedComplement

51.20 m
8.6 m
6 Indret boilers
4 steam turbinesproducing 126,000 HP
2 propellers
32 knots
1338 men, including
64 officers

51.20 m
8.6 m
6 Indret boilers
4 steam turbines
producing 126,000 HP
2 propellers
32 knots
1338 men, including
64 officers

Given how similar the two ships are, if the Clemenceau contained up to 1,000 tonnes ofasbestos-contaminated products, the Foch could still have 945 tonnes on-board. Twoother French ships are believed to be on their way to Argentina; everything about themovement of these ships is being kept secret not only from the public but also from civil
servants in Buenos Aires who have tried to ascertain the status of the asbestos on-board
these ships.
Awareness of the problem is half the battle. Although it is unrealistic to demand theimmediate removal of all the asbestos contained within our national infrastructures, thehazard must be carefully managed. Asbestos audits must be made and asbestos products
labelled so that plumbers do not unknowingly expose themselves to asbestos dust whilst
mending leaking pipes or electricians inhale fibers whilst drilling holes to install newwiring. In this field, the town of Osasco continues to lead the way. The fact that a weekof asbestos awareness activities are being held here to coincide with InternationalWorkers’ Memorial Day is significant. The GAC 2000 taught us the importance oftackling the subject with multiple resources and from many angles. I applaud the ongoing efforts being made in Osasco to protect workers and the public. In the presence ofso many pioneers of the global ban asbestos movement, I pledge my continued
commitment to pursue our goals of: a global asbestos ban and justice for all asbestos
victims.