Asbestos claims the life of six family members

Winnipeg, Canada – The sixth person out of seven family members affected by asbestos exposure has died from an asbestos-related illness.

Rita Swain, of a Canadian First Nations family, was in her 50s when she died this week from malignant mesothelioma. Although it’s understood that she was exposed as a child to the hazardous substance, she wasn’t diagnosed will the lung cancer until only three years ago.

The seventh member of the family who has been afflicted with an asbestos-related disease is Raven Thundersky, Ms. Swain’s half-sister.

Ms. Thundersky has been campaign to get the Canadian government to remove Zonolite insulation, made from asbestos-tainted vermiculite mined in Libby, Montana, from every home in the country. She believes she and her family were first exposed in the 1950s when the government installed the insulation in hundreds of First Nations members’ homes.

The government encouraged homeowners to install Zonolite into their homes by offering grants from 1977 to 1984, and it’s estimated that 200,000 to 300,000 took the offer. The material has since been found to contain life-threatening asbestos.

Zonolite insulation has been removed from military bases by the government, but there haven’t even been any plans considered for First Nations homes. Health Canada claimed that the insulation does not pose a threat unless disturbed and warned people not to do anything to it.

The insulation is located inside the walls and attics of homes, and people have argued that families who have done renovation work themselves or used the attic as a storage area before learning about the dangers of Zonolite may have potentially been exposed.

Winnipeg’s Member of Parliament Pat Martin has been working to convince the government to remove the insulation from all homes, saying that it’s responsible for pushing home owners to install it in the first place.

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