19. I then met a senior Doctor and expert on Occupational Health and Safety at the ILO , who saw my documents and suggested that they were good and should be submitted to WTO somehow. I was then informed that WTO has recently started taking Amicus Curaie (Friends of the court) submissions. I did so promptly (on 26th June itself) to the Secretariat of the Case itself also requesting a personal hearing to enable justice being bestowed!!.

20. On 26th I received a email from the Director of The Asbestos Institute confirming that all the facts were presented to the Panelists. (Which I learnt from reliable sources at the WTO, was not true!!)!

21. On 26th and 27th I again reminded and requested the Asbestos Institute, Canada High Commission and several connected officials in the Can Govt. to make the submission, but no reply recd.

22. On 27th morning I left a copy of the submission at the Canadian Mission at Geneva again requesting them to submit a counter to the WTO and / or to urge them to give serious consideration to our Submission.

23. On 29th I recd. a phone call from the Director of The Asbestos Institute admitting that the Documents have not been submitted at the WTO and may be used later, but assured me that I would be involved in the future proceedings and that he would promptly send me copies of the Docs submitted at the WTO, which he later regretted as being confidential thus not possible in his email.

24. From 26th to 30th at the International UN Summit (Geneva 2000) where I enrolled as a delegate too, I had an opportunity to learn more and voice my opinion too.

25. At the WTO Roundtable on Trade and Sustainable Development : I said " It appears that when the Industry leaders and the Developed Countries are not able to face the competition from the Developing Countries they try to kill the product itself in a very subtle manner as in the case of Asbestos which is much safer & more sustainable than its alternatives. The WTO under pressure, is forced to give 'unfair judgements'!! So what is the solution?

26. The point was well accepted & went undisputed and one of the Panelists advised that your submission has been accepted at the WTO & you have now an open opportunity to compete even at the WTO. It is after all Survival of the fittest as per Darwin.

27. Some senior WTO officials / members & Senior UN representatives themselves suggested that:

28. Your case / submission is very strong and stunning and we wish that you can somehow build pressure on the Panel to give it serious consideration.

You may even use the Press.
We are impressed with your organisation and the efforts and we wish we can associate with you and such organisations in future too.
However , the Panel & WTO is under tremendous Political & Public pressure to give an Anti Asbestos judgement.
It clearly appears that Canada is not too keen to win the case :
- As there Industry is not able to commercially compete?
- As they get a bad name around the World if they continue business in Asbestos?
- Because the case was done to pacify the Quebec miners / labour involved?
- It makes more sense for the Industry to claim heavy compensations from the govt. on such forced closure.

29. All the previous 201 Trade Dispute judgements have gone in the favour of Trade and the world / people are looking at this case very carefully.

30. If this also goes in favour of trade, people will be upset and will lose faith in the Integrity of WTO!!

31. So chances are that your submission may not be given sufficient importance, unless appropriate pressure is built on the Panel and WTO, which is certainly possible though difficult.

32. The Zimbabwe & Bangladesh Ambassadors to UN were also impressed at my presentation at the World Bank Conference and have taken a copy of our submission.

33. A strong Zimbabwe NGO was also keen to pursue the matter seriously. UK

34. At the The Imperial College of Science , Technology and Medicine. The Professor in charge of Material Science after our presentation, was eager to experiment with Asbestos Cement products.

35. Mrs Laurie Allen, The Chief of IBAS ( the International Ban Asbestos organisation, behind the forthcoming Ban Asbestos International Conference at Brazil ), who very genuinely believed that Asbestos was a deadly hazard, was stunned to see the scientific presentation which she could not dispute and was confused and speechless. She was earlier very disturbed that Canada is holding an International Conference On Asbestos in India "to fool developing countries like India that Asbestos is good"!! (The brochure was received by her in an envelope without sender's name / details ??.) (Who could have done so ?? & why ??) Netherlands

36. One of The Main Newspaper's "Telgraaf" was intrigued by the case and plans to do a story on it. EC (Brussels) The Details of the Case used to Ban Asbestos (available on the net) appears to be full of fundamental flaws and weaknesses.

37. Some important queries have been raised by us to the Person incharge by email. Conclusion The awareness about Asbestos being much safer than its alternatives is virtually nil amongst all people, including the "experts". This awareness needs to be spread a s a p. And the primary targets at this should be: a. Press : US, Canada, EU, Brazil, concerned developing countries b. Canada Government c. WTO Panel for the Case. Brazil & Zimbabwe Government d. Indian Govt. for their support / backing. e. EC

38. Some important queries have been raised by us to the Person incharge by email.

Conclusion

39. The awareness about Asbestos being much safer than its alternatives is virtually nil amongst all people, including the "experts". This awareness needs to be spread a s a p. And the primary targets at this should be:

a. Press : US, Canada, EU, Brazil, concerned developing countries
b. Canada Government
c. WTO Panel for the CaseBrazil & Zimbabwe Government
d. Indian Govt. for their support / backing EC
e. Educational Institutions

40. Requirement :

a. Pressure on Canada to do needful
b. PR agency (Fully International)
c. Strong National & International body to regulate the CrusadeSeveral other organisations that I contacted were all eager to know more about this interesting revelation .

Please advise and do needful a.s.a.p.

Regards

Joy Manglani (B Tech, Chem, IIT)
(Director)
ONE Only Nature Endures

Encl. Copy of our Amicus Curiae submitted to WTO
(Please contact for advising us / for more scientific or other details)

* Case No. WT / DS / 135 : Name : European Communities : Measures affecting Asbestos and Products Containing Asbestos

ONE is a self reliant NGO working closely with the Corporate, Government, Institutes of Technology and the public. Presently focussing in the area of Water & Sanitation. We aim to promote appropriate technologies by synergising latent potentials and thereby create self-reliance and public enthusiasm in this field.