General Assembly Resolution #435 “Asbestos Consumption, Disposal and Worker Protection” (Category: Environmental; Industry Affected: All Businesses - Mild) shall be struck out and rendered null and void.
Acknowledging the several health concerns associated with exposure to asbestos crystals,
Cognizant of the socioeconomic necessity of reliable and long-lasting housing and public infrastructure, which many member states could not possibly afford without the use of reinforced concrete,
Recognizing that one-size-fits-none mandates are hardly realistic for a membership of states with wildly varying dependence upon asbestos-reinforced concrete,
Regretting that lax or nonexistent requirements for asbestos-related inspections, as well as absurdly restrictive safety regulations, actually increase the long-term risk of public harm from asbestos due to failure to remove exposed asbestos densely inhabited environments,
Alarmed at the suggestion that large fractions of the populations of member states should be deprived of homes, schools, and places of work due to the limitations of construction technology,
Acknowledging that the membership of this Assembly is prepared to bring into law a well-considered and less reckless replacement to the target resolution,
The World Assembly hereby repeals General Assembly Resolution #435 "Asbestos Consumption, Disposal and Worker Protection" or the following causes:
- The target's blanket ban on the production of asbestos and asbestos-reinforced materials will halt nearly all large-scale infrastructure construction and housing projects in many member nations, particularly those which do not enjoy the technological and logistical privileges of geopolitical and imperialist fortune.
- The target's uncompromising attitude toward the use of asbestos totally disregards what construction options are actually available to member states.
- The target provides no clear requirements with regard to asbestos testing or reporting, leaving it to member states to determine whether, how often, and in what manner buildings of any given category must be tested for asbestos and whether any entity is liable to report a risk of asbestos exposure. As a result, the target creates two classes of entities: those architects, engineers, and property holders foolish enough to investigate or disclose the existence of asbestos in a structure and thereby suffer the punishments and restrictions of the target, and those that do not do so and thereby benefit their intense property and monetary interest in jeopardizing public health.
- The target's unreasonably stringent standards for the demolition of buildings containing asbestos result in a requirement that buildings containing asbestos concrete be deconstructed brick-by-brick "in order to avoid creating asbestos dust" by small teams working in "short, non-continuous" shifts. This makes the replacement and disposal of asbestos-reinforced concretes a logistical nightmare for any nation in which asbestos is a common ingredient in construction material. As a result, the target's own mandates increase risk to public health as a result of prolonged asbestos exposure.
- By prohibiting the marketing of rooms or buildings containing asbestos within their concrete, the target will produce the effect that asbestos-reinforced buildings be gradually emptied of tenants, workers, and inhabitants, regardless of the actual health hazard the structure may present.
- Such prohibitions will inevitably result in mass homelessness, mass unemployment, and general economic ruin for any member nation that frequently relies upon asbestos to reinforce concrete structures and actually manages to enforce these building condemnations.
- These effects will severely impede the capacity of member states to carry out their duties to those under their jurisdiction, including requirements by various preexisting World Assembly resolutions to provide for the basic needs of the public.
