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{
    "id": 1341811,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1341811/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 52,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Uasin Gishu County, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Gladys Boss",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for the opportunity to stand in support of Hon. Ibrahim Saney’s Petition seeking the ban of the use of asbestos roofing materials. It is about time that the National Assembly dealt with this problem. It is clear that nobody is using asbestos on new buildings. The asbestos that exists as roofing material is found on old buildings which were constructed at a time when science had not confirmed that asbestos causes cancer. This has since been confirmed by peer-reviewed world science. What remains is for us to remove those materials from our buildings. In commercial buildings or buildings that are for rent, because the tenants refuse to move into them unless the asbestos material is removed, landlords are having to change the roofing. The biggest crisis is in our public buildings. I can confirm that Pioneer Sub County Hospital in Uasin Gishu has had asbestos roofing since colonial times. Ng’elel Tarit Sub-County Hospital has asbestos roofing material. Burnt Forest Sub-County Hospital in Uasin Gishu County also has asbestos roofing material because it was built during colonial times. It is about time that the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health, summoned the various state agencies requiring that all of them be decommissioned and replaced with safer materials. Hon. Speaker, I think Members of this House will remember that in the last Parliament, I brought a Petition seeking the ban of 267 types of pesticides that have been confirmed to cause cancer. In fact, farmers in the United States have each been paid US$250 million as damages for getting cancer as a result of exposure to those pesticides. Yet, today, despite having brought the Petition to our Departmental Committee on Health in the last Parliament, those pesticides have not been banned, the way the roofing materials have not yet been banned. I sought in a second Petition, in this 13th Parliament, that the Departmental Committee on Health summon the Pest Control Products Board to come to this House to explain why they have not taken measures to remove those items off our market. The Board has continuously failed Kenyans. I had a subsequent Petition seeking the removal from office of all the members of the Pest Control Products Board for failure to remove the dangerous products off our market. Despite the fact that they are banned in Europe and the USA, they are permitted to be manufactured in those countries for export to countries like Kenya that are foolish enough to allow them in their markets yet, in this House, we continue to have petition after petition from various Members. I know that the Hon. Member from Elgeyo Marakwet Constituency recently had a Petition and Statement seeking the establishment of National Cancer Treatment Centres. What is the point of spending millions of shillings in treating cancer when we have certain products that are causing cancer right in our faces? We know that Kirinyaga County, for example, has the highest prevalence of cancer and they also have the highest prevalence of the use of products that cause cancer yet we continue to give money for the treatment of cancer. Why do you not start with the prevention of cancer? With those few remarks, I wish to support the Member for Wajir North Constituency, Hon. Ibrahim Saney on this Petition. This House is challenged to begin to take stern action to save lives of Kenyans. Thank you, Hon. Speaker, for the opportunity."
}