Canada Seeks To Boost Asbestos Industry
Alarming news of Canada’s wish to boost its Asbestos industry can be seen this week in an excellent article on the BBC World News website.
The article, brought to the attention of Unionsafety by Derek Maylor, Chair of the NW BTU H&S Co-ord, gives an in-depth report of the state of Canada’s ‘cancer denial’ in the name of profit for their Quebec based asbestos mine – one of the biggest in the world.
The BBC article explains:
“What is mined in Quebec is a different kind of asbestos - white asbestos or chrysotile - the only kind now used commercially worldwide. Countries like Russia, China, Brazil, and India - although not Canada - use it widely as a cheap and effective building material.
The president of the mine, Bernard Coulombe, told us their chrysotile is "sold exclusively to end-users having the same industrial hygiene practices as Canada," and said the federal and provincial governments have proof this is the case.
But, despite still being mined in Quebec, white asbestos is now banned or restricted in some 52 countries, on the grounds that any form of asbestos can cause devastating illnesses......”
What is also clear is that the opposition to the continuous mining of any form of asbestos is not being listened to by the Canadian and Quebec governments.
As the article continues:
“Many scientists fear the continued use of asbestos could significantly prolong a global epidemic of asbestos-related illnesses that began when blue and brown asbestos were legal. The WHO says white asbestos "is a known cause of human cancer," including mesothelioma.
Dr Vincent Cogliano, of the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer says: "My own personal view is that these risks are extremely high. They are as high as just about any known carcinogen that we have seen, except, perhaps, for tobacco smoke.
"Any exposure is going to prolong the asbestos epidemic - continued export and continued use of chrysotile will increase the incidence of lung cancer and mesothelioma for many decades to come, he said."
Defenders of chrysotile insist safe use can prevent any ill effects including cancer - and some argue there's no link to mesothelioma at all.”
The good news is that both inside and outside of Canada, the opposition to Canadian asbestos exports, is growing. Many prominent physicians, academics and others who have besieged the federal and provincial governments with letters of protest.
The WHO says 125 million people encounter white asbestos in the workplace, and the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that 100,000 workers die each year from all asbestos-related diseases.
But the president of the mine told BBC Reporters that he did not believe these figures were true.
The BBC article continues:
“White asbestos is banned in the European Union, with minor exemptions. In the US it is legal but the industry has paid out an estimated $70bn in damages and litigation costs, and asbestos use is limited to automobile and aircraft brakes, gaskets and a few other products.
Backed by a global network of trade groups and scientists, the asbestos industry has depicted the epidemic as a legacy of a darker time, when dust levels were high, blue and brown asbestos were used, and workers had little, if any, protection from the toxic asbestos fibres.
"All recent scientific studies show that chrysotile fibres, the only asbestos fibre that is produced and exported from Canada, can be used safely under controlled conditions," said Christian Paradis, environment minister in Canada's conservative government.
In 2009, Canada sent nearly 153,000 tonnes of chrysotile - or white asbestos - abroad. More than half went to India; the rest went to Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.”
Yet in Canada itself there is a different story: Canada used only 6,000 tonnes in 2006, the last year for which data is available.
The full article can be accessed by clicking on the pic above.
Source: BBC World News
