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One Planet: 22/07/2010

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22/07/2010

BBC World Service - One Planet, 22/07/2010

Building a family home out of broken asbestos, a special report from India's shanty towns

It's a special One Planet this week as the programme investigates the trade in white asbestos. The mineral is banned - or its use severely restricted -  in over 50 countries. But in many parts of the developing world demand is rising fast. Lauded for its cheap and durable nature, white asbestos is an attractive building material when you need to construct large numbers of affordable housing - and few places in the world have a stronger appetite for both cheap housing and the mineral than India.

For the programme, Mike heads to the city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat. There he visits Kali Gaon, a shanty town close to one of the city's largest asbestos factories. Walk around Kali, and you quickly realise you're surrounded by broken sheets of asbestos - it's used for roofing; for makeshift walls. Splinters and shards of it are strewn across the mud roads. Asbestos is safe when encased in concrete, but when it's cracked and broken, fibres are released into the air that can eventually kill if inhaled.

In the show Mike speaks to the people who live in Kali about the dangers they face, he meets the doctors treating those suffering lung problems, and he tries to get the boss of the nearby factory to talk to him about what safety equipment it gives its workers. We also hear from state government officials, who initially say there's no asbestos in Gujarat, before changing their mind.

This special One Planet is part of the BBC's Dangers in the Dust series - a joint investigation by the BBC and the ICIJ into the global trade in white asbestos. To find out more about the investigation, follow the link below.

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