Manifest: Urgent call to ban the use of asbestos in Mexico / Manifiesto: Llamado urgente para prohibir el uso del asbesto en México

Resumen

México, as a Member State of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), must know and take into account and comply proactively the statements, recommendations and guidelines issued by these International Organizations, including the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a WHO dependent institution, that has classified asbestos in the Group 1 as a Human Confirmed Carcinogen since 1976, 45 years ago. The WHO itself, has declared that there are not safe and secure exposure limits for asbestos, and has stablished that the best measure to protect workers and citizens health and life is to ban completely the use and products containing asbestos. In fact, there are 69 Nations in the World that have banned the asbestos through national legislations. Besides, Mexico has established the Constitutional Right to Health for every Mexican citizen, in Article 4th in the Mexican Constitution. Finally, are presented in this Manifest: Urgent call to ban the use of asbestos in Mexico, a series of Programs needed to manage safely the asbestos residues and proposals of Mexican Institutions, to help people living in precarious households, frequently with asbestos cement roofing, water tanks and pipelines made with asbestos. Also, are presented Guides that have technical measures to retire, dismantle, handle, transport, and confine materials that contain or are made with asbestos, applying secure and sustainable procedures.