Canada Health Groups Urge Halt to Asbestos Mining, Ban on Exports
Thursday, July 1st, 2010A group of Canadian health organizations called on the national and provincial governments to halt the mining of asbestos in Quebec and ban exports of the hazardous mineral fiber. Asbestos is linked to mesothelioma and other fatal respiratory diseases that cause tens of thousands of deaths each year.
The Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Public Health Association, and the National Specialty Society for Community Medicine condemned Canada’s practice of providing financial subsidies to the asbestos industry and promoting exports of asbestos to developing nations that lack worker safety laws.
“More than 40 countries, including all member states of the European Union, have banned the use of all forms of asbestos including Chrysotile,” Dr. Cordell Neudorf, chairman of the Canadian Public Health Association Board of Directors, said in a press release. “There is clear scientific evidence that exposure to asbestos through mining, processing and use is harmful to health.”
While Canada strictly regulates use of asbestos within its borders, the country ranks as the world’s fifth largest exporter of Chrysotile asbestos. Much of the asbestos goes to developing countries where lax workplace safety regulations expose workers and their families to inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers, extending the epidemic of asbestos-related disease into new generations. Ninety-six percent of the output from the country remaining asbestos mines, both in Quebec, is exported to countries such as India and Indonesia.
“It is inconceivable that we would restrict the use of asbestos in our own country, but continue to export this hazardous material around the world,” Dr. Anne Doig, president of the Canadian Medical Association said in a statement.
The government of Quebec is currently considering extending a $58 million government loan guarantee to allow the reopening on the shuttered Jeffrey asbestos mine, one of the world’s largest open pit asbestos mines. The expansion would create 400 jobs in the town of Asbestos, Quebec, and keep Canada in the asbestos market for 25 years.
The health organizations urged the provincial government not to subsidize the reopening of the Jeffrey mine. Instead they said, all levels of Canadian government should direct new investments to support the transition of asbestos mining regions toward environmentally healthy and sustainable industries.
The World Health Organization, which has called for a ban on asbestos, estimates that 90,000 people die of asbestos related disease each year. In the U.S., approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people die of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen linked to asbestos exposure.
