Thai Merchants to Raise Prices on Asbestos Ban

(February 7, 2011) A distributor of motor brakes in Bangkok, Thailand announced that they will raise prices if asbestos is banned.

Suwit Panyasewanamit, a managing director of a particular company in Bangkok, stressed their dismay on the proposal of banning asbestos in Thailand. He said that 70 to 80 percent of their operations involve the use of asbestos, an essential material for manufacturing motor brakes and clutches.

In January of this year, the National Economic and Social Advisory Council proposed banning the importation and sales of asbestos in Thailand, after it was linked to several significant conditioning problems like asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare form of asbestos cancer, which involves the protective lining that covers the lungs, heart and abdomen. It is commonly caused by a prolonged exposure to asbestos.

Asbestos, on the other hand, is a naturally occurring substance that is commonly used for manufacturing and construction products such as roofing sheets, floor tiles, cements, textiles, insulation and other industrial products. Thailand has imported asbestos for thirty years which is mainly used for the industrial sector. In 2010, Bangkok imported over 69,000 tons of asbestos from Russia and Canada.

About 90 percent of the asbestos sold goes into roof tiles and cement pipes, while the rest goes into the production of brakes and clutches, vinyl floor tiles, gaskets and heat-insulating materials. Managing director of Oranvanich, local producer of roof tiles in Bangkok, said in an interview that the asbestos ban will affect approximately 570,000 households or two million people, most of which are low to middle income earners.

Meanwhile, previous reports said that two million tons of asbestos were still being produced each year even though all forms of asbestos have been prohibited in fifty-two countries. Nonetheless, several countries such as Canada, Brazil, China, Indonesia and Malaysia and India still allow its use in some products and even promote its export globally. Thai researchers insisted on banning the use of these carcinogens after medical findings revealed its link to mesothelioma, a form of cancer which currently has no cure.