Asbesto: ¿un peligro silencioso? Primer informe del Observatorio de Redes y Acción Colectiva

Abstract

Asbestos or asbestos is the name given to a group of fibrous minerals commonly used in industry for its insulating conditions, for its high level of resistance to high temperatures, for its flexibility and for its low price. This mineral fiber has a wide variety of uses, to such an extent that more than 3,000 manufactured products contain this material. For example, asbestos has been used in sectors such as construction, mainly for the production of roof tiles and water pipes, and in the automotive sector, for the manufacture of brakes and clutches; Also, it has been used for the manufacture of plastics and paints. Starting in the 1970s, an international debate began regarding the danger to public health derived from the use and exposure to this mineral fiber. Several medical studies have determined that asbestos is a carcinogenic agent for humans. For this reason, the production, marketing and use of this material have so far been prohibited in more than 50 countries, including all member countries of the European Union. Currently, in Colombia, the Draft Law 61/17 of the Senate of the Republic is under debate, which seeks to prohibit the use of asbestos in the national territory. It is a project that has supporters and opponents. Taking into account the visibility that the debate around the prohibition of the use of asbestos in Colombia has gained since 2016, the Observatory of Networks and Collective Action (ORAC) of the Universidad del Rosario decided to prepare its first report on this topic. The report makes a general assessment of how the trend towards a ban on the use of asbestos has evolved worldwide, placing special emphasis on the situation in Canada which, after several years of defending the use of this mineral fiber, today is in the process of banning it. This first report will be complemented by three more reports on the debate around the use of asbestos that will gradually be made available to the public during the remainder of the second semester of the current year. The second report will take stock of the different initiatives that have sought to promote a law from the Congress of the Republic that regulates or prohibits the use of asbestos in Colombia; the third report will analyze the process of media coverage in Colombia of the controversies about the risks associated with the use of this mineral fiber; and the fourth report will describe the social mobilizations that have sought to put pressure on the prohibition of the use of asbestos in Colombia.