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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Feds asked to caution importers on asbestos

By: Mia Rabson

Posted: 06/15/2011 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Pat Martin (CP)

OTTAWA -- Over 200 organizations, scientists and physicians are calling on Canada to agree to warn other countries about the hazards of asbestos.

The request came in a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday asking him to change the government's policy against adding chrysotile asbestos to a list of substances covered by the United Nations Rotterdam Convention at its next meeting June 20.

Substances on the list are not banned but countries exporting them must provide written warnings to the importing nation about their hazards and include information on how to safely handle them. More than 90 per cent of asbestos mined in Canada is exported, mainly to developing countries with questionable workplace safety protocols. To date Canada has blocked repeated recommendations by the convention's Chemical Review Committee to add chrysotile asbestos to the list.

Its opposition came despite a 2006 recommendation from Health Canada officials to support the addition.

"HC's (Health Canada's) preferred position would be to list (it), as this is consistent with controlled use -- i.e. let people know about the substance so they have the information they need, thru prior informed consent, to ensure they handle and use the substance correctly," reads a memo from a Health Canada assistant deputy minister.

That memo was released this week through an access to information request, and Manitoba NDP MP Pat Martin said it shows the government is putting crass political goals ahead of doing the right thing.

"Canada is the No. 1 cheerleaders for the asbestos cartel, and they will go to any efforts to sabotage or undermine any efforts to curb its use," said Martin.

Canada is one of the world's last remaining producers of asbestos and the current Conservative government backed the industry during the recent federal election campaign. All asbestos produced in Canada is mined in a single operation in Asbestos, Que. It is located in one of the five Quebec ridings the Conservatives held onto in the last election, represented by Harper's Quebec regional minister, Christian Paradis.

Paradis maintained in the House of Commons that chrysotile asbestos can be used safely.

"For more than 30 years, Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile nationally and internationally," Paradis said. "As well, scientific reviews have demonstrated that chrysotile can be used safely in controlled conditions."

However, Fernand Turcotte, professor emeritus of public health at Laval University in Quebec City, said no credible scientists agree with that finding.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 15, 2011 A7

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