The ‘UKIP Agriculture Policy: Overview’ published in March 2014 states that ‘UKIP will get rid of unnecessary regulations’ specifically including the ‘Hazardous’ classification of asbestos cement.
After months of investigation UKIP experts have confirmed that the HSE’s regulation for the handling and disposal of asbestos cement products, as found in large quantities on farm buildings nationwide, was based on totally false science. The ‘UKIP Agriculture Policy: Overview’ published in March 2014 states that ‘UKIP will get rid of unnecessary regulations’ specifically including the ‘Hazardous’ classification of asbestos cement, whereas blue and brown asbestos will, quite rightly, remain under strict control.
The HSE incorrectly advised the UK Parliament in 1999 by calling for white asbestos and its products to be banned on the basis that it would kill up to 10,000 workers pa. This was contrary to their earlier published research in 1996 which showed that white asbestos cement posed a risk to health too small to be measured. The HSE have failed to this day to explain this duplicity despite repeated attempts to call for a public debate on the issue.
Furthermore an attempted resolution to the European Parliament by MEP Steven Hughes in 2013 representing the ban asbestos lobby had sought to tighten the existing regulation even further by calling for the removal of ALL asbestos containing materials in use within Europe. This pointless and punitive regulation would have been unworkable in practical terms and would have cost the UK farming industry alone around £6 billion in crippling remedial costs. Fortunately 51 MEPs armed with a basic understanding of the science voted against the resolution. No action will now be taken by the European Parliament before 2028, giving time for a proper examination of the scientific facts.
Representing UKIP and supported by Derek Clarke MEP, Roger Helmer MEP outlined to the European Parliament how the false science had been perpetuated by the inappropriate influence of a lobby group of claims lawyers and other vested interests within the asbestos industry.
Here is a link to Roger Helmer’s speech on 13th March 2013 to the European Parliament:
Why not all forms of asbestos should be banned
Asbestos Watchdog