COLOMBO: The government had decided to control the use and import of asbestos from January 01, 2018 by adopting more beneficial substitutes and to prepare operational programme to prohibit the asbestos related manufacturing by 2024, Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media Minister Gayantha Karunathilake said yesterday.
Addressing the media at the Government Information Department, the Minister said the Cabinet had approved the proposal made by President Maithripala Sirisena in his capacity as the Minister of Mahaweli Development and Environment to control the import and use of asbestos harmful to the environment in Sri Lanka.
Accordingly, the import of brake pads, brake shoes, clutch plates and gaskets of vehicles containing asbestos, asbestos wires and industrial heat resistant would be banned in Sri Lanka from January 01, 2018, the Minister said adding that the tax relief granted for the import of asbestos at present would also be removed by 2018.
Approval for the establishment of new asbestos related industries or for the expansion of existing industries would not be issued after January 01, 2018. The imports of all types of asbestos fibre and manufacture of asbestos related products within the country would be completely banned from January 1, 2024, Minister Karunathilake said.
According to the cabinet memorandum of the Mahaweli Development and Environment Ministry, nearly 55 countries had already banned the production and use of all types of asbestos related goods and certain countries were taking action to gradually stop the use of asbestos.
Meanwhile, the World Health Assembly has requested the World Health Organization (WHO) to launch a global campaign to eradicate asbestos related diseases.
The government would facilitate speedy research and development methodologies for switching over to the use of substitutes and encouraging the use of suitable substitutes already identified through local and foreign research, according to the Ministry.
The cabinet memorandum also states that the government will encourage and promote the conversation of the factories currently engages in manufacturing asbestos related products into factories that manufacture non-asbestos products.
