Canadian Official Wants Nation's Asbestos Plants Shut Down

A member of the Canadian Parliament who represents a district near Winnipeg, Manitoba, is calling for the government to shut down the country's asbestos industry. Pat Martin, an MP from Winnipeg Centre and member of Canada's New Democratic Party, stated his support for the overall asbestos ban stemmed from a report from the Canadian Medical Association.

In the report, ninety-five percent of the doctors polled voted in agreement with a motion that would call for the government to deem asbestos, specifically, chrysotile asbestos, as a dangerous substance. The vote also called for the nation's leaders to stop both the use of asbestos domestically and the export of the substance to overseas trading partners.

Dr. Kapil Khatter serves as the chairman of the group Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) and is a family practitioner based in the capital city of Ottawa. He has commended the vote of the CMA and understands that this is the first such vote passed by the organization by such a wide margin. Dr. Khatter has also stated that the scientific evidence bears out that the country‘s asbestos is not being put to safe use and does not believe that such safe uses are feasible, or even possible. Dr. Khatter argues that, without proper safety procedures, no true method exists to understand how dangerous asbestos can be in any setting.

For several decades, the Canadian government has granted government subsidies to the asbestos industry and has exported over ninety percent of its output overseas, primarily to third-world countries that do not have the proper training or material to enforce necessary safety procedures. Mr. Martin has called these policies "shameful" and has referenced the pressure from other developed nations, such as Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the UN calling for the overall ban on the substance.

Another voice opposing the practice of exporting asbestos is Jim Brophy, a cancer researcher and former director of the occupation health clinic for the city of Sarnia, Ontario. He sees the motion as a way to address a "long historic wrong" brought about by Canadian exports of asbestos. He mentions several studies conducted on the thousands of workers who are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer, due to their exposure to asbestos over several decades. He has also seen many of those cases first-hand, as asbestos was used in construction and other industries in Sarnia and other nearby cities.

Although the use of asbestos in Canada domestically is subject to strict regulations, the government is currently spending millions of dollars to remove asbestos insulation from the older buildings in the Houses of Parliament. Defenders of the asbestos export policy state that the chrysotile asbestos is a much less dangerous form of the substance and is perfectly safe if encased in cement, which should prevent the fibers from becoming airborne. The primary use for the asbestos exported to developing nations is in the cement-mixing process. The country's Office of Foreign Affairs released a statement that they do not foresee a change in the policy and reiterated that the current policy stresses responsible and controlled handling of asbestos exports.

Source: Canada.com

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