Sale of Asbestos-Lined Goods Banned
By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
South Korea has banned the sales of 15 products for containing cancer-causing asbestos.
The Ministry of Knowledge Economy said Wednesday it ordered a recall of the products, citing the results of an investigation by the Korean Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS).
The recalled products included 11 bicycle models, an electric stove, and two types of brake pads for motorbikes. The domestic producers of the pads in question have been indicted.
A refrigerator model and wallpaper product avoided the sales ban as they were estimated to have no risk of exposure, the ministry said.
Most of the items were imported ― 12 came from China and the other from Vietnam.
The move came after KATS, the umbrella organization of the ministry, conducted three investigations from April to June on a total of 524 products in 46 categories. These followed the discovery of talcum powder containing trace amounts of asbestos in several baby powder products in April.
Preventive measures still leave something to be desired in Korea, which launched restrictions on asbestos in 2000. It began to put a blanket ban on imported products that contain the toxic material in 2007.
Currently the material is completely prohibited in all products in countries including the United Kingdom and Japan.
According to the data from the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency, 65 workers were diagnosed with occupational diseases caused by asbestos since 2000 ― 39 with lung cancer ― with 48 of them dying.
So far, no patients here have been confirmed with diseases caused by exposure to the material in non-working environments.
The Ministry said last month that it will draw up strengthened regulations on the use of asbestos in all products, to go into effect from September. A ``no-asbestos'' policy will be applied to skin- and child-related products, while all other goods should contain less than 0.1 percent.
Also last month, KATS revised safety standards for household electronics products, which completely prohibits the use of asbestos.