Gripping his inhaler as he struggles to breathe, rake-thin Chinnapan Chinnakannu blames his years spent labouring in one of India's scores of asbestos cement factories for his illness.
When he first started at the factory in western Gujarat state, Chinnapan said he was given protective clothing "but later they stopped providing us with masks and shoes".
"Initially I suffered from breathlessness, but slowly the frequency increased and reached a point where I could hardly work," said Chinnapan, who was diagnosed with asbestosis, or scarring of the lungs, in 2007.
"Slowly I started losing weight, I couldn't even drink water as it made me vomit immediately," the 64-year-old said in his one-bedroom house on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
A pariah product in most of the West, blamed for thousands of deaths, asbestos is hugely popular in the developing world - including in India, where it's a US$1.4 billion growing industry.
Nations at a UN meeting in Geneva last month tried to add chrysotile, or white asbestos, to a list of dangerous substances subject to export restrictions.
But the move was blocked by leading asbestos exporter Russia and other developing nations, a stance supported by India, one of the world's biggest importers.