The Kerala High Court on Wednesday held that the government of India should think of prohibiting the import, manufacture and use of asbestos to prevent health hazards. “Asbestos, including the fibre and its products, is banned in all developed countries as it is known to be hazardous to health and is one of the causes of lung cancer. So India should think of its prohibition,” the court said. The court also asked the Central Government and the Customs Commissioner to file a report in this regard.

Years after the World Heath Organisation (WHO) recognised asbestos as one of the most significant occupational carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) and declared the need to eliminate its use, the Centre has commissioned a study to assess its environmental and health hazard in India. In 2006, the WHO had called for preventing the rise of asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) and estimated that globally, over 107,000 deaths annually are caused by these diseases, including asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis (acute respiratory disease).

Years after the World Heath Organisation (WHO) recognised asbestos as one of the most significant occupational carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) and declared the need to eliminate its use, the Centre has commissioned a study to assess its environmental and health hazard in India. In 2006, the WHO had called for preventing the rise of asbestos-related diseases (ARDs) and estimated that globally, over 107,000 deaths annually are caused by these diseases, including asbestos-related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis (acute respiratory disease).

A civic group in Seoul on Wednesday protested the use of dirt containing asbestos in ballparks and high school sports grounds.

The pro baseball season will continue despite the asbestos scare, officials at the Korea Baseball Organization say.

Earlier this week, environmental watchdogs reported that testing showed that dirt in five of the seven pro baseball stadiums contains higher-than-standard levels of asbestos.

Until they can rip the dirt out, groundkeepers will water the fields more often to reduce dust levels, the KBO said in a statement.

A $43 million settlement has been approved for more than a thousand asbestos victims who said state officials knew that dust from a mine was killing people but failed to intervene. An estimated 400 people have been killed and 1,750 sickened by asbestos released from a W.R. Grace & Company mine outside the town of Libby, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. Lethal dust from the mine, which closed more than two decades ago, once blanketed the town. Judge Jeffrey Sherlock of District Court in Helena approved the deal to end a lawsuit against the state.

A highly toxic Chinese ship, detected with at least “79 deficiencies since 2010” at different ports, is now on its way to a ship-breaking yard in Chittagong for dismantling.

The Asia Union, formerly known as MV Humber and MV Cast Otter, is due to enter Bangladesh maritime boundary anytime tomorrow, said sources in international maritime watchdogs.

A new study says firefighters who toiled in the wreckage of the World Trade Center in 2001 were 19 percent more likely to develop cancer than those who were not there, the strongest evidence to date of a possible link between work at ground zero and cancer.

Canada is stalling the listing of chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos) at the Conference of Parties to the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent, meeting in Geneva.