Mesothelioma a Concern as Canada Continues to Export Asbestos

While multiple countries around the world have issued bans on asbestos, Canada continues to export the toxic mineral to several developing countries, including India, Pakistan and Vietnam.

As a result, Pat Martin, Winnipeg Member of Parliament, is trying to make the House of Commons declare April Fools Day (April 1) an asbestos awareness day for asbestos-related diseases. “We’ve fooled the world with phony science for too long,” Martin said.

Martin is also asking for the government to end asbestos exports and improve health services for asbestos-related diseases, including lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural mesothelioma.

Much of Martin’s drive to make these changes stem from his youth when he spent two years mining asbestos in the Yukon. At the time, he was completely unaware that the effects from working in such an environment could be fatal.

Currently, Canada is exporting more than 200,000 tons of asbestos each year. In 2005, 61 percent of occupational fatalities in Canada were the result of asbestos exposure, totaling 340 people.

While the government is still reviewing Martin’s motion for an awareness day, the Canadian Cancer Society is in full support of Martin and wishes for some type of asbestos ban to take effect. They have already asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to set a timeline for phasing out the use and export of Canada’s chrysotile asbestos.

Some believe chrysotile asbestos is less harmful than other forms of asbestos, but a spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society said, “We are stating factually that all forms of asbestos cause cancer.”

The last remaining active asbestos mine in Canada is located in Quebec, which exports 90 percent of all the asbestos that it produces.

The World Health Organization lists asbestos as a cancer-causing substance and reports 90,000 people worldwide pass away from an asbestos-related disease each year. More than 40 countries have already banned the use of chrysotile asbestos, including the United Kingdom, which banned the import and use of the hazardous mineral in 1999.

Additional information about mesothelioma and asbestos exposure may be found through the Mesothelioma Cancer Center.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 6th, 2009 at 12:48 pm and is filed under Asbestos Exposure, Asbestos Legislation, Mesothelioma. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed. Responses are currently closed, but you trackback from your own site.