http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=acD5eSZMS.rc&refer=canada

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Yves Legault says it would be easier attracting employers to his Quebec hometown if its name didn't make people think of cancer.

``It's a real hurdle,'' said Legault, head of industrial promotion for the town of Asbestos. He said a window maker decided last year against opening a plant in the community because its main U.S. client said, ``If you build in Asbestos, we're not interested.''

That attitude is pushing Mayor Jean-Philippe Bachand to propose dropping the Asbestos name, a move that some of its 6,700 residents oppose. The asbestos mine owned by Mine Jeffrey Inc. is the biggest employer in the town, which is about 175 kilometers (110 miles) east of Montreal.

``Asbestos as a name doesn't sell,'' said Bachand, who plans to hold a public debate by the end of the year and then put the matter to a vote. ``Those who say we shouldn't change our name are putting their heads in the sand.''

Companies have reason to be concerned about asbestos. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 4,000 people a year die from mesothelioma, cancer of the membrane around the lungs, which is caused by asbestos. A respiratory disease, asbestosis, is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers. Asbestos-related diseases often don't appear until 15 to 40 years after initial exposure, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The mineral, favored for its fire resistance, was used widely in home insulation and auto parts until the 1970s. Asbestos also was used in clothing for firefighters and insulation for the U.S. space shuttle.

Killing Companies

Those uses hurt the health of many corporations as well. Lawsuits over health-care costs for people who worked with asbestos have forced almost 80 companies into bankruptcy protection, including Chicago-based USG Corp., the world's largest wallboard maker; Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning, the biggest U.S. insulation maker; and Southfield, Michigan-based Federal-Mogul Corp., a car-parts maker.

To end the lawsuits, members of the U.S. Senate last year proposed creating an asbestos fund that would provide compensation to victims. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that claims might total as much as $150 billion in the next 50 years, and proposed collecting about 40 percent of that from U.S. companies and insurers.

The town of Asbestos owes its name to the mineral, which has been mined there since the late 1870s. The mine had as many as 3,000 workers in the 1970s. The 300 who remain work only half the year and collect unemployment insurance the other half.

Jobs have dwindled as Asbestos attracted few other businesses. That led Quebec employment-search magazine Jobboom to warn this year that Asbestos is one of the 10 towns in the province that are most likely to disappear. Its population has shrunk by almost half in 20 years.

Support for Name

Asbestos resident Serge Boislard, who has worked at the mine for 37 years, watched his father suffer from asbestosis until he died of heart failure last year at 83, after laboring 35 years at the mine. Nevertheless, he opposes changing the town's name.

``All this will achieve is to tell the world that we are ashamed of our product,'' said Boislard, 57, who is a town councilor. ``It will be one more nail in our coffin.''

More than 30 countries ban or restrict the use of asbestos. Most of the asbestos produced globally is consumed by Asian countries such as Thailand, where it's mixed with cement for construction uses. Canada, once the world's biggest producer, now ranks No. 4, trailing Russia, China and Brazil, according to data from Canada's natural resources ministry.

Other Changes

The town wouldn't be first to abandon the Asbestos name. The Asbestos Institute, a Montreal-based lobbying group, changed its name to the Chrysotile Institute. Chrysotile, the type of asbestos mined in Quebec, is 10 to 500 times less carcinogenic than other types, according to the ministry.

In Thetford Mines, Quebec's other asbestos-producing hub, the local economic development agency replaced ``amiante,'' the French word for asbestos, with the name of the town in its name. A local high school did the same.

Asbestos could follow suit by choosing a name such as Trois Lacs -- the name of a municipality absorbed by Asbestos in 1999 -- or Phoenix, Bachand said. That might help attract more environmentally friendly companies such as Polylab Experts Inc., a closely held soil- and water-testing company that opened a laboratory last year and hired about 15 people.

``We merged with Trois Lacs, so why not adopt their name?'' Bachand said. ``I tell the people of Asbestos, `You have left your mark on history, now the important thing is to leave your mark on the future.'''

Business Cards

Among those who think a new name wouldn't make much difference is Bernard Coulombe, 64, chief executive officer of closely held Mine Jeffrey. The company has been operating under bankruptcy protection since 2002, after some European countries banned the use of asbestos.

``A name change isn't going to do anything to attract industrialists,'' Coulombe said. ``Asbestos is too far from the major highways and the big cities.''

Coulombe said he is careful not to scare people with the Asbestos name. While the company is based there, the address on his business cards uses the name of nearby Danville, Quebec.

*** POSTED JULY 17, 2006 ***