With the support of the Australian embassy in Laos, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has put up a billboard in front of the Australian Embassy in Laos to highlight the dangers of asbestos.

The Rotterdam Convention will convene this month to decide whether countries have a right to know about hazardous substances, including asbestos, that enter their country.

During the cleanup after the West Java earthquake last year, emergency personnel removed broken roof sheet, unaware that they were being exposed to loose asbestos fibres.

The Rotterdam Convention needs urgent reform to list asbestos as a hazardous substance.

In areas surrounding asbestos factories, broken asbestos roof sheets are being dumped in open paddock where farming communities plant rice and grow home gardens.

Australia’s ambassador to Cambodia, Mr. Pablo Kang, helped launch the 2nd Cambodian National Asbestos Profile at an event in Phnom Penh held in early October.