Read this article in:
24 July, 2001Canadian national newspaper supports asbestos exports to developing countries and asks "why ban asbestos?"
CANADA/CHILE: After the Chilean government recently decided to ban the use of asbestos in that country, Canada's prime minister, Jean Chrétien, lobbied Chilean president Ricardo Lagos on behalf of Canadian asbestos producers to get the ban rescinded. When demonstrations took place in Santiago to denounce the Canadian government's behaviour as immoral, an editorial in Canada's national daily newspaper, The Globe and Mail ("Why Ban Asbestos?", July 13, 2001), claimed it was "nonsense". Referring to the asbestos type called chrysotile, the newspaper declared that "asbestos as it is currently employed by Canadian manufacturers poses no threat to human health."
Numerous were the shocked responses to the above, among them a letter written by the president of the Canadian Auto Workers, Buzz Hargrove, who said the newspaper was reckless in supporting the prime minister's advocacy of asbestos use in Third World countries, as nearly all developed countries, including Canada, have almost entirely quit using all types of asbestos and many European countries, including the UK and France, have totally banned the use of every type of asbestos.
Countering the Globe and Mail editorial, Hargrove referred to the many deadly cancers caused by exposure to asbestos and said most scientific evidence demonstrated that chrysotile, or white asbestos, also caused cancer. In Canada alone, asbestos had caused extensive loss of life and sickness, and not only workers have been affected but family members as well, via even minimal quantities of fibres carried home on workers' clothing.
"The reality," went on Hargrove, "is there is no known safe level for exposure to asbestos, chrysotile or otherwise... You say that Prime Minister Chrétien has 'every right to call Mr. Lagos and make Canada's case for asbestos'. He may have every right to call Mr. Lagos, but he has no authority, moral or otherwise, to promote the use of a deadly material in the name of Canada. And Chileans have every right to protest his attempt to do so."
Almost 100 per cent of Canadian asbestos is exported to developing countries.
Numerous were the shocked responses to the above, among them a letter written by the president of the Canadian Auto Workers, Buzz Hargrove, who said the newspaper was reckless in supporting the prime minister's advocacy of asbestos use in Third World countries, as nearly all developed countries, including Canada, have almost entirely quit using all types of asbestos and many European countries, including the UK and France, have totally banned the use of every type of asbestos.
Countering the Globe and Mail editorial, Hargrove referred to the many deadly cancers caused by exposure to asbestos and said most scientific evidence demonstrated that chrysotile, or white asbestos, also caused cancer. In Canada alone, asbestos had caused extensive loss of life and sickness, and not only workers have been affected but family members as well, via even minimal quantities of fibres carried home on workers' clothing.
"The reality," went on Hargrove, "is there is no known safe level for exposure to asbestos, chrysotile or otherwise... You say that Prime Minister Chrétien has 'every right to call Mr. Lagos and make Canada's case for asbestos'. He may have every right to call Mr. Lagos, but he has no authority, moral or otherwise, to promote the use of a deadly material in the name of Canada. And Chileans have every right to protest his attempt to do so."
Almost 100 per cent of Canadian asbestos is exported to developing countries.