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[guruengerish]

"The Australian" 27 Jan 2005

Hardie link to Indonesia's 'hidden plague'
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta, and Ean Higgins
27jan05

INDONESIA faces an asbestos time bomb with one of the major companies currently manufacturing building products still using the killer fibre.

The company acquired its operations and knowledge from Australia's James Hardie Industries.

Government officials yesterday expressed anger and desperation over what they fear is a hidden plague they do not have the medical technology to detect.

The majority of Indonesians have no idea about asbestos diseases such as the cancer mesothelioma and the lung-scarring disease asbestosis, and medical staff do not have the tools to diagnose them.

The situation means that Hardie, which manufactured asbestos products in the country for 16 years, has not to its knowledge received a claim, although by now the 20- to 30-year incubation period for such diseases should have produced victims.

The Indonesian Government's most senior public servant dealing with occupational health issues, Zulmiar Yanri, said she had come up against "a constant brick wall" in her attempts to pin down national asbestosis and mesothelioma rates.

"Without doubt these diseases exist here � as they do everywhere else that asbestos has been used � but there is no data available," Dr Yanri said.

One of the largest producers of asbestos-based materials in Indonesia, Bakrie Brothers bought a major part of its operations from Hardie in 1985.

Hardie had two companies in Indonesia, PT James Hardie Industries and PT Harflex Asbes Semen, which it merged before the sale to Bakrie. In 1982, the two companies contributed $2.2 million to Hardie's profits of $41.1 million.

Bakrie, whose director is state co-ordinating minister for the economy Aburizal Bakrie, still produces a popular asbestos-based sheeting and corrugated roofing product named Harflex.

Harflex suppliers near the company's factory in Tangerang, west of Jakarta, admitted yesterday the product was "said by lots of people to be bad for your health". One laughingly said that while there was a lot of resistance to using the material in other countries, "here in Indonesia there's no problem with it".

At Jakarta's Dharmais Cancer Hospital, lung cancer specialist Edi Suratman said he was aware of "textbook cases" of the two diseases, but was yet to encounter a patient who had been diagnosed with either one. "It's quite possible the problem is with the methods of diagnosis in Indonesia," Dr Suratman admitted.

Lung disease � largely defined as cancer and tuberculosis � accounts for more than 30 per cent of the nation's deaths.

Two of Dr Suratman's patients, one of them with advanced lung cancer and requiring oxygen tubes to breathe, said despite living most of their lives in houses built from asbestos-based products they had never been told the material was dangerous.

Former bus driver Zamaluddin, 39, was admitted to Dharmais Hospital 11 days ago with massive and inoperable lung and lymph node tumours. Whether he also suffers from the two asbestos-caused illnesses will never be known because the hospital does not as a matter of course test for them.

His wife Lilik shrugged when told Australian sufferers would be compensated by up to $1million. "That's nice for them," she said, as Zamaluddin coughed blood into a roll of toilet paper crumpled in her hands.

Jakarta karaoke club receptionist Haryati Tedjasukmana, 38, has had difficulty breathing since November last year. Mrs Tedjasukmana has been diagnosed with lung cancer, but has not been tested for mesothelioma or asbestosis. Dharmais Hospital does not have the equipment for such procedures, Dr Suratman said.

� The Australian

[Chester]

most house ceilings in jakarta probably have asbestos sheeting as liner.
if it is not disturbed the dangerous fibre is inert.
during construction and demolition there is a problem. also with decaying and flaking material. but the government authorities in jakarta really couldnt care about REAL community issues. whats important is building shopping malls and monorails. and investing in the Indonesian army.
booo

[gugelhupf]

Considering the level of cigarette smoking throughout Indonesia I would imagine that most potential asbestosis victims would have succumbed to other forms of lung cancer long before the asbestos fibres got them!

[Cardinal Synn]

Hmmm, bit of a sweeping comment that, no? Oh yes, they all deserve asbestos poisoning because they all smoke and will succumb to cancer anyway. Er, no.