Lethality of Asbestos and Exploitation of Workers and the Public by Asbestos Producers Exposed
International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health
June 24, 2004
Asbestos kills. There is no question about it. That is the consensus of the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, the Collegium Ramazzini, the European Union, and responsible national governments and independent scientists worldwide. All agree that to halt the epidemic of deaths from asbestos it should no longer be available for use.
Yet producers continue to sell white asbestos (chrysotile) to markets in developing countries, although its use is forbidden by law elsewhere. For asbestos producers from Russia to Zimbabwe to China to Canada, asbestos sales generate substantial profits for the industry while poisoning people who work with it, their families, their communities, and consumers..
Canada, widely regarded as a supporter of green issues, has led the pro-asbestos global lobby, for complex reasons. As recently as June 6, 2004, Canada announced it would block United Nations efforts to add white asbestos to a list of dangerous chemicals subject to trade restrictions. By enabling the continued marketing of white asbestos, Canada will ensure that the 20th century epidemic of asbestos deaths, which has decimated populations in the West, will be repeated in developing countries.
The just-released April-June issue (Volume 10, Number 2) of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health exposes the motivations of Canadian asbestos stakeholders in betraying their own countrymen and risking the lives of others and documents the plight of asbestos victims in Canada and the environmental pollution created by decades of asbestos mining operations. Laurie Kazan-Allen, Guest Editor, says:
"The Canadian asbestos industry and its supporters are responsible for prolonging a deadly global epidemic which has already cost millions of lives. Without government subsidies the industry would collapse, but fear of a political backlash from the Quebec asbestos lobby dictates the Federal Government's continuing support for this deadly export. The time has come for Canada to turn its back on this weapon of mass destruction and to acknowledge the harm done by Canadian asbestos, at home and abroad.
For further information see the journal's Web site, www.ijoeh.com, or contact the publisher at abelpubserv@aol.com.
*** POSTED JUNE 24, 2004 ***