Press Statement
TWA welcomes Italian criminal court’s verdict against asbestos company
Upcoming Union Budget should provide for phase out of asbestos products in India
Make Indira Awas Yojna, asbestos free
New Delhi 18/2/2012: ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) welcomes the guilty verdict of a court in Turin, Italy that provides legal remedy for a public health and environmental disaster that claimed thousands of lives due to the criminal callousness of asbestos company and calls on Union Finance Minister to provide a road map for the phase out of asbestos products in the upcoming Budget Session of the Indian Parliament. The 3-judge panel sentenced the owners of asbestos company, the defendants to 16 years in jail on February 13, 2012.
It is noteworthy that the birth place of Chairperson of Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance, Sonia Gandhi is in the Turin province. Italy banned asbestos in 1992 still its effect is being felt as a consequence of past exposures. While Italy has banned asbestos, manufacturing of asbestos products is rising at alarming rate in India in general and in Rae Bareli, her parliamentary constituency in particular.
Italian Health Minister Renato Balduzzi has applauded the verdict by the Turin court as "without exaggeration, truly historic". The silence of India’s Union Health Minister in the matter of public health crisis due to asbestos exposure is deafening.
The Turin court ordered asbestos company, Eternit’s owners to pay a total of €95 million in compensation to the families of the victims, to the town of Casale, trade unions and other parties. Damages are also to be determined in a separate civil proceeding to victims’ relatives and to a number of local authorities. TWA hopes Indian Parliament will equip the legal system so that they can provide remedies to present and future victims of asbestos fibers.
This verdict came in the criminal trial of 64 years old Swiss Stephan Schmidheiny and 89 year old lead Belgian shareholder Louis de Cartier who owned and managed a company called Eternit that made asbestos-cement building products in many countries in Europe, South America, and South Africa. Eternit closed its operations in Italy in 1986.
The verdict was read out by Judge Giuseppe Casalbore after 66 hearings. Schmidheiny and Cartier were accused of causing “permanent health and environmental catastrophe” at their asbestos based plants. The victims were exposed to asbestos fibers.
TWA appreciates the conviction of these two billionaires and considers it a milestone in the battle to eradicate asbestos fibers that is still used in the construction industry in most of the Asian countries despite ban in 55 countries world over. This is the biggest ever trial on asbestos related deaths and the first involving criminal charges brought against asbestos company’s owners. Similar fate awaits the owners of asbestos companies in India which exercise an incestuous influence over ruling political parties and exacting fiscal incentives from Union Finance Ministry at least since 1982.
The trial has been going on since 2009. Schmidheiny has a net worth of about $3 billion and has reportedly spent over $10 million a year on lawyers and public relations representatives in this case. This proves that no amount of expenditure on public relations and advertisements can hide the truth about asbestos related incurable diseases such as Asbestosis, Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma.
It has come to light that in the northern town of Casale Monferrato, where the largest of Eternit’s four plants were located since 1907, 1,800 people have died of asbestos-related diseases, including some 800 who never even worked for the asbestos company. Every week in the small town of 35,000, doctors discover a new case of pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibers. The company never handled disposal of asbestos waste (dust and fibers) in environmentally sound manner and gifted it to workers families.
In India, although trade in asbestos waste (dust and fibers) is banned under the Hazardous Waste Management Rules, there no capacity in the private or public sector to handle end of life asbestos products in an environmentally sound manner. One can witness countless locations even in the national capital where asbestos waste is strewn around in the streets, at the Railways Stations, Metros, hospitals and schools.
In such a backdrop, Commerce Ministry should desist from signing the "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" with Canada that allows import of Canadian asbestos to India. Incidentally, work is on to decontaminate the offices and homes of members of the Canadian House of Commons which have asbestos. The government has stated publicly that it does not favour new asbestos plants in the country any more. "The Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in India to protect workers and the general population against primary and secondary exposure," a concept paper by the Ministry of Labour said in September 2011.
Union Environment Ministry s Vision Statement on Environment and Human Health says, "Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos may be phased out." Union Ministry of Chemicals urged the government to disassociate itself from countries like Russia and Canada who derailed the international consensus that could have categorised chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. If the Finance Minister takes cognizance of the global and national developments, the Union Budget may see the beginning of the end of the asbestos manufacturing industry in India given the fact that it’s mining is already banned by Union Mines Ministry.
It high time Union Rural Development Minister took cognizance of it and made its Indira Awas Yojna, asbestos free. Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause serious illnesses including malignant lung cancer or mesothelioma and asbestosis, a chronic lung disease. The year 2011 will be remembered for a successful villagers' struggle against an asbestos plant in Chainpur-Bishunpur in Marwan block of Muzaffarpur district, Bihar that led to its closure. Bihar State Human Rights Commission has announced the winding up of the killer plant. Several such plants are facing resistance in Bihar and across the country. Kerala Human Rights Commission had banned the use of asbestos roofs in schools and hospitals in me state and the National Human Rights Commission had issued notices to central ministries, states and union territories seeking a report on asbestos related incurable diseases and on why asbestos should not be banned.
It is a bizarre and inexplicable economic logic to allow Russia and Canada and other asbestos producers to endanger the health of present and future generation of Indian citizens even as the developed world saves its citizens from the killer fibers of asbestos.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Convener, ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA), Mb: 09818089660, Web: banasbestosindia.blogspot.com, E-mail: krishna1715@gmail.com
More information on the Eternit trial from the Italian Asbestos Victims Families Casale (in English) here: http://asbestosinthedock.ning.com/
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Widow urges Quebec to keep asbestos mines closed
By Kristy Kirkup, Parliamentary Bureau
OTTAWA - An Ontario woman whose husband died due to a painful asbestos-related illness brought her crusade against the mined mineral to Ottawa on Thursday.
Margaret Buist, 73, of Sarnia, has launched a postcard campaign to urge federal and provincial leaders to stop "promoting" the production of crysotile asbestos.
Buist's 58-year-old husband died to an asbestos-related disease in 1996. She said she promised her husband one thing during his health battle - when he cried, she didn't and when she cried, he didn't.
"I don't know how we did what we did," she said, stating her husband was exposed to asbestos while he worked for Imperial Oil.
Canada's last asbestos mine closed recently in Quebec due to financial and environmental issues - marking the end of a 130-year-old industry - but a Montreal asbestos trader is trying to reopen a mine in Asbestos, Que.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest said he would grant a $58-million government loan to support the project to kick start the failed mine, but the deal has not been approved yet.
Montreal-based asbestos businessman Balit Chadha is hopeful the project will be given the green light following a third-party safety audit. Chadha's company has already started reviewing resumes to hire 60 workers.
Buist was joined at an Ottawa news conference on Thursday by NDP MPs Pat Martin and Francois Lapointe to protest Charest's support for the project.
Martin said the Criminal Code of Canada should be amended to address what he calls "murder" by the asbestos industry.
The federal government maintains it has promoted "safe use of chrysotile domestically and internationally for more than 30 years" and scientific reviews confirm fibres can be used safely under controlled conditions.
Martin said an inventory of asbestos is still available from the last Canadian asbestos mine, but he said the industry will die "a natural death" if reopening the Quebec mine is rejected.
Kristy.Kirkup@sunmedia.ca
On Twitter: @kkirkup
Toronto Sun, February 16, 2012 http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/16/widow-urges-que-to-keep-asbestos-mines-closed
OTTAWA - An Ontario woman whose husband died due to a painful asbestos-related illness brought her crusade against the mined mineral to Ottawa on Thursday.
Margaret Buist, 73, of Sarnia, has launched a postcard campaign to urge federal and provincial leaders to stop "promoting" the production of crysotile asbestos.
Buist's 58-year-old husband died to an asbestos-related disease in 1996. She said she promised her husband one thing during his health battle - when he cried, she didn't and when she cried, he didn't.
"I don't know how we did what we did," she said, stating her husband was exposed to asbestos while he worked for Imperial Oil.
Canada's last asbestos mine closed recently in Quebec due to financial and environmental issues - marking the end of a 130-year-old industry - but a Montreal asbestos trader is trying to reopen a mine in Asbestos, Que.
Quebec Premier Jean Charest said he would grant a $58-million government loan to support the project to kick start the failed mine, but the deal has not been approved yet.
Montreal-based asbestos businessman Balit Chadha is hopeful the project will be given the green light following a third-party safety audit. Chadha's company has already started reviewing resumes to hire 60 workers.
Buist was joined at an Ottawa news conference on Thursday by NDP MPs Pat Martin and Francois Lapointe to protest Charest's support for the project.
Martin said the Criminal Code of Canada should be amended to address what he calls "murder" by the asbestos industry.
The federal government maintains it has promoted "safe use of chrysotile domestically and internationally for more than 30 years" and scientific reviews confirm fibres can be used safely under controlled conditions.
Martin said an inventory of asbestos is still available from the last Canadian asbestos mine, but he said the industry will die "a natural death" if reopening the Quebec mine is rejected.
Kristy.Kirkup@sunmedia.ca
On Twitter: @kkirkup
Toronto Sun, February 16, 2012 http://www.torontosun.com/2012/02/16/widow-urges-que-to-keep-asbestos-mines-closed
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
White Asbestos-a time bomb for the lungs
Asbestos is a proven carcinogen and banned in many countries. The establishment in India too has expressed its concern over the manufacture and use of the mineral. Yet, new asbestos plants are being sanctioned. ECO visits Bhojpur in Bihar, where three new asbestos plants have come up.
By: Gopal Krishna, Bhojpur (Bihar)
Villagers of Bihar s Bhojpur are up in protest. They want the three new asbestos plants in their neighbourhood to shut down. They do not want the health hazards that exposure to asbestos entails as all forms of asbestos are proven carcinogens. But then, perhaps these villagers are not as aware as the state government and asbestos companies.
"Human biology is the same everywhere. How can a chemical be deemed poisonous in one district and non-poisonous in another district of the same state," the Bhojpur protestors are asking. They are emboldened by the fact that a similar 'death factory' was recently forced to shut shop in nearby Muzaffarpur district.
2011 will be remembered for a successful villagers' struggle against an asbestos plant in Chainpur-Bishunpur in Muzaffarpur district that led to its closure. Earlier, Kerala Human Rights Commission had banned the use of asbestos roofs in schools and hospitals in me state and the National Human Rights Commission had issued notices to central ministries, states and union territories seeking a report on asbestos related incurable diseases and on why asbestos should not be banned.
In a letter to Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar, the villagers of Bhojpur have complained against the hazardous factories in their proximity that manufacture chrysotile white asbestos-cement products. Two of these plants have been set up in Bihiya in Bhojpur by Tamil Nadu based Ramco Industries Ltd. The third has been set up at Giddha in Koilwar Block by another Tamil Nadu company Nibhi Industries Pvt Ltd.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral and has thin fibrous crystals. The world s largest asbestos mine is located in the town of Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, where it s mining first began. Asbestos became increasingly popular among manufacturers and builders for its sound absorption properties, tensile strength and resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage. It was extensively used for electrical insulation, mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. That is, till its health implications came to light.
Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause serious illnesses including malignant lung cancer or mesothelioma and asbestosis, a chronic lung disease.
Yet, a 120,000 MT/Annum capacity Asbestos Cement Sheet Plant and a 200,000 MT/Annum capacity Asbestos Grinding Plant have been set up in Bihiya. The project was allotted 20 acres by the state government on lease for 90 years. In Giddha village, the 100,000 MT Capacity Asbestos Fibre Cement Corrugated Sheet, Flat Sheet, Accessories and Light Weight Fly Ash Block Plant acquired 15 acres. This land allotment is part of the scam that has tainted Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA). It has emerged that Bihar's Environment Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi allotted the land for the four asbestos plants. The All India Students Association, Paryavaran Swasthya Suraksha Samiti and Asbestos Virodhi Nagrik Morcha are campaigning against these plants. Questions have been raised against these plants in Bihar Vidhan Sabha and even inParliament, but the state government remains unmoved.
Asbestos, banned in many countries, is still used widely across India and is part of a Rs 4,000 crore industry dominated by a score of companies who justify the use of asbestos as affordable roofing and claim that chrysotile asbestos can be safely manufactured and used without risks. These companies claim that the kind of asbestos used in India is not carcinogenic.
Globally, asbestos industry is on trial since the 1920s. So far 55 countries, including the European Union, have banned asbestos. In 2005, WHO and ILO passed a resolution seeking elimination of future use of chrysotile white asbestos. A 2010 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer said, "Epidemiological evidence has increasingly shown an association of all forms of asbestos with an increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma" and that an estimated 125 million people are still exposed to it.
Here to attend the International Conference on "Emerging Trends in Preventing Occupational Respiratory Diseases and Cancers in Workplace," experts have warned India of the dangers of continuing with asbestos. "No matter what misinformation comes from Canada or the Indian asbestos industry, there is no doubt that chrysotile causes asbestosis and lung cancer," said Prof Arthur L Frank, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, the USA.
Dr Alec Farquhar, Managing Director, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Canada, said, "We now have around 500 asbestos cancer cases every year in Ontario. If you (India) continue on your current path, you will multiply our death count by 100 times. That is 50,000 Indian workers dying every year from asbestos."
Experts and activists are exhorting the Commerce Ministry to desist from signing the "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" with Canada that allows import of Canadian asbestos to India. Incidentally, work is on to decontaminate the offices and homes of members of the Canadian House of Commons which have asbestos.
The government has stated publicly that it does not favour new asbestosplants in the country any more. "The Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in India to protect workers and the general population against primary and secondary exposure," a concept paper by the Ministry of Labour said in September 2011.
The Environment Ministry s Vision Statement on Environment and Human Health said, "Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos may be phased out." The Ministry of Chemicals urged the government to disassociate itself from countries like Russia and Canada who derailed the international consensus thatcould have categorised chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. Experts also suggest a compensation fund for asbestos victims that makes asbestos companies liable for knowingly exposing workers, consumers and citizens to asbestos fibres.
Ashestos Trade Data (2010)
Top Five Producers [Metric tonnes]
Russia 1,000,000
China 400,000
Brazil 270,000
Kazakhstan 214,000
Canada 100,000
Top Five Users [Metric tonnes]
China 613,760
India 426,363
Russia 263,037
Brazil 139,153
Indonesia 111,848
Even as India inches towards a position that it considers chrysotile asbestos a hazardous substance, setting up of new asbestos plants in Bhojpur, Vaishali, Maddubani and West Champaran in Bihar appears an anti-people move. Reportedly, such plants are coming up in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh as well. Also, as per established legal procedure, all abandoned asbestos mines have to be closed
but Hyderabad Industry Ltd of the C K Birla Group has not closed its asbestos mines at Roro village at Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, 30 years after the mines where shut down the mines. Thekiller dust remains air borne and continues to take its toll. Is there any legal relief for victims of white asbestos and the victims of abandoned asbestos mines in India?
Union Budget 2011-12 made an implied critical reference to asbestos by including it under Health Ministry s Rashtriya Swasthya Birna Yojana to cover the 'unorganised sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like asbestos etc
'Asbestos affectees are expecting that the government will take radical measures to phase out use, trade and manufacture of white asbestos in the country. The upcoming budget will reveal how sensitive the Government is towards addressing this environmental and occupational health crisis. Sanity demands that there be a moratorium on asbestos based hazardous industries.
_________________________________________________________________
Gopal Krishna is convenor, ToxicsWatch Alliance and a public policy analyst.
By: Gopal Krishna, Bhojpur (Bihar)
Villagers of Bihar s Bhojpur are up in protest. They want the three new asbestos plants in their neighbourhood to shut down. They do not want the health hazards that exposure to asbestos entails as all forms of asbestos are proven carcinogens. But then, perhaps these villagers are not as aware as the state government and asbestos companies.
"Human biology is the same everywhere. How can a chemical be deemed poisonous in one district and non-poisonous in another district of the same state," the Bhojpur protestors are asking. They are emboldened by the fact that a similar 'death factory' was recently forced to shut shop in nearby Muzaffarpur district.
2011 will be remembered for a successful villagers' struggle against an asbestos plant in Chainpur-Bishunpur in Muzaffarpur district that led to its closure. Earlier, Kerala Human Rights Commission had banned the use of asbestos roofs in schools and hospitals in me state and the National Human Rights Commission had issued notices to central ministries, states and union territories seeking a report on asbestos related incurable diseases and on why asbestos should not be banned.
In a letter to Bihar Chief MinisterNitish Kumar, the villagers of Bhojpur have complained against the hazardous factories in their proximity that manufacture chrysotile white asbestos-cement products. Two of these plants have been set up in Bihiya in Bhojpur by Tamil Nadu based Ramco Industries Ltd. The third has been set up at Giddha in Koilwar Block by another Tamil Nadu company Nibhi Industries Pvt Ltd.
Asbestos is a naturally occurring silicate mineral and has thin fibrous crystals. The world s largest asbestos mine is located in the town of Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, where it s mining first began. Asbestos became increasingly popular among manufacturers and builders for its sound absorption properties, tensile strength and resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage. It was extensively used for electrical insulation, mixed with cement or woven into fabric or mats. That is, till its health implications came to light.
Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause serious illnesses including malignant lung cancer or mesothelioma and asbestosis, a chronic lung disease.
Yet, a 120,000 MT/Annum capacity Asbestos Cement Sheet Plant and a 200,000 MT/Annum capacity Asbestos Grinding Plant have been set up in Bihiya. The project was allotted 20 acres by the state government on lease for 90 years. In Giddha village, the 100,000 MT Capacity Asbestos Fibre Cement Corrugated Sheet, Flat Sheet, Accessories and Light Weight Fly Ash Block Plant acquired 15 acres. This land allotment is part of the scam that has tainted Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA). It has emerged that Bihar's Environment Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi allotted the land for the four asbestos plants. The All India Students Association, Paryavaran Swasthya Suraksha Samiti and Asbestos Virodhi Nagrik Morcha are campaigning against these plants. Questions have been raised against these plants in Bihar Vidhan Sabha and even inParliament, but the state government remains unmoved.
Asbestos, banned in many countries, is still used widely across India and is part of a Rs 4,000 crore industry dominated by a score of companies who justify the use of asbestos as affordable roofing and claim that chrysotile asbestos can be safely manufactured and used without risks. These companies claim that the kind of asbestos used in India is not carcinogenic.
Globally, asbestos industry is on trial since the 1920s. So far 55 countries, including the European Union, have banned asbestos. In 2005, WHO and ILO passed a resolution seeking elimination of future use of chrysotile white asbestos. A 2010 report of the International Agency for Research on Cancer said, "Epidemiological evidence has increasingly shown an association of all forms of asbestos with an increased risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma" and that an estimated 125 million people are still exposed to it.
Here to attend the International Conference on "Emerging Trends in Preventing Occupational Respiratory Diseases and Cancers in Workplace," experts have warned India of the dangers of continuing with asbestos. "No matter what misinformation comes from Canada or the Indian asbestos industry, there is no doubt that chrysotile causes asbestosis and lung cancer," said Prof Arthur L Frank, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Drexel University School of Public Health, the USA.
Dr Alec Farquhar, Managing Director, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, Canada, said, "We now have around 500 asbestos cancer cases every year in Ontario. If you (India) continue on your current path, you will multiply our death count by 100 times. That is 50,000 Indian workers dying every year from asbestos."
Experts and activists are exhorting the Commerce Ministry to desist from signing the "Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement" with Canada that allows import of Canadian asbestos to India. Incidentally, work is on to decontaminate the offices and homes of members of the Canadian House of Commons which have asbestos.
The government has stated publicly that it does not favour new asbestosplants in the country any more. "The Government of India is considering the ban on use of chrysotile asbestos in India to protect workers and the general population against primary and secondary exposure," a concept paper by the Ministry of Labour said in September 2011.
The Environment Ministry s Vision Statement on Environment and Human Health said, "Alternatives to asbestos may be used to the extent possible and use of asbestos may be phased out." The Ministry of Chemicals urged the government to disassociate itself from countries like Russia and Canada who derailed the international consensus thatcould have categorised chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance. Experts also suggest a compensation fund for asbestos victims that makes asbestos companies liable for knowingly exposing workers, consumers and citizens to asbestos fibres.
Ashestos Trade Data (2010)
Top Five Producers [Metric tonnes]
Russia 1,000,000
China 400,000
Brazil 270,000
Kazakhstan 214,000
Canada 100,000
Top Five Users [Metric tonnes]
China 613,760
India 426,363
Russia 263,037
Brazil 139,153
Indonesia 111,848
Even as India inches towards a position that it considers chrysotile asbestos a hazardous substance, setting up of new asbestos plants in Bhojpur, Vaishali, Maddubani and West Champaran in Bihar appears an anti-people move. Reportedly, such plants are coming up in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh as well. Also, as per established legal procedure, all abandoned asbestos mines have to be closed
but Hyderabad Industry Ltd of the C K Birla Group has not closed its asbestos mines at Roro village at Chaibasa, West Singhbhum, Jharkhand, 30 years after the mines where shut down the mines. Thekiller dust remains air borne and continues to take its toll. Is there any legal relief for victims of white asbestos and the victims of abandoned asbestos mines in India?
Union Budget 2011-12 made an implied critical reference to asbestos by including it under Health Ministry s Rashtriya Swasthya Birna Yojana to cover the 'unorganised sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like asbestos etc
'Asbestos affectees are expecting that the government will take radical measures to phase out use, trade and manufacture of white asbestos in the country. The upcoming budget will reveal how sensitive the Government is towards addressing this environmental and occupational health crisis. Sanity demands that there be a moratorium on asbestos based hazardous industries.
_________________________________________________________________
Gopal Krishna is convenor, ToxicsWatch Alliance and a public policy analyst.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
asbestos victims appeal to Roshi Chadha has exported asbestos to India
Below are moving letters sent from asbestos victims to St Mary’s Hospital Foundation requesting that Roshi Chadha be asked to resign from the hospital’s Board of Directors. Roshi Chadha has exported asbestos from the Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec to India and other countries for the past 16 years. She is involved in a plan to open a new Jeffrey underground asbestos mine and export millions of tons of asbestos to Asia for years to come.
If you believe a leading asbestos trader should not be a member of the Board of Directors of a hospital, send a brief message requesting that she be asked to resign. Send your message to Rachel Renaud, Cynda Heward, Dr Arvind Joshi and the Board of Directors at the following email addresses: cynda.heward@ssss.gouv.qc.ca ; arvind.joshi@ssss.gouv.qc.ca ; fondation.stmary@ssss.gouv.qc.ca .
Kathleen Ruff
== ==
January 18, 2012
Dear Ms. Renaud, Ms. Heward, Dr. Joshi and Members of the Board of St Mary’s Hospital Foundation
Over the last five years, each one of us has watched one of our immediate family die from a completely preventable form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma is an excruciating painful form of cancer that causes the victims to suffocate to death. We watched parents and spouses waste away, helpless to quench their unending thirst, and unable to fill their lungs with the air they desperately needed.
The World Health Organization, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medical Association, the Quebec Medical Association and the Quebec government’s own sixteen Directors of Public Health are just a few of the many reputable health organizations that call for a ban of chrysotile asbestos, the product that Roshi Chadha, your board member, has been involved in exporting for the past 16 years to third world and developing nations. There is no safe form of asbestos, despite what the chrysotile asbestos exporters may tell the innocent people who work in the factories that use Canadian asbestos. Please watch the CBC report, Canada’s Ugly Secret. http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/06/28/national-asbestos.html
It has been proven that chrysotile can’t be used safely in Quebec, according to government standards, so it would be impossible for it to be used safely in the developing world. Thousands of people are going to become victims of asbestos in these countries because of Seja Trade, Ms. Chadha’s export company.
According to the President’s message the board members “lead by example”. The Foundation’s mission is to “strive to provide Healthcare on a Human Scale”. We believe having an executive of Seja Trade on your board is like having someone from the tobacco industry on your board. We ask that you remove this asbestos exporter from your board as surely there can be someone to fill her spot that does not contribute to the painful deaths of 107,000 people a year.
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims, speaking up for asbestos victims everywhere
Stacy Cattran
Leah Nielsen
Heidi von Palleske
Dr. Cathy Conrad
Michaela Keyserlingk
== ==
January 23, 2012
I am respectfully requesting that Roshi Chadha be removed as a member of the Board of St. Mary's Hospital Foundation. Her role as an asbestos exporter is in direct conflict with what a medical institution stands for. Please know that asbestos-related diseases are the #1 occupational killer across Canada, there is no known safe exposure limit, and there are no known cures for the diseases that it creates. The WHO has asked for a complete asbestos ban due to the serious and significant negative health impacts of asbestos worldwide.
I watched my Dad die from mesothelioma, a very painful, terminal cancer cause by asbestos, just as he and my Mum were settling into a well-deserved retirement. No one should have to go through what we went through, yet every year thousands more follow in our footsteps as loved ones fall ill and die due to asbestos exposure. My Dad was an electrician - he never worked in a mine or a factory; he never knew that he had been exposed. Back in1953 asbestos was listed as a carcinogen in one of the world's oldest, best known, and most respected medical journals. My Dad was just a boy in 1953, if we had heeded the warnings then, my Dad would still be alive today. This deadly mineral is odourless, tasteless and invisible. The only way to end these senseless deaths from this known carcinogen is to ban asbestos.
No one who supports the asbestos industry in any way should be a board member of any health organization. Your website uses the word "compassionate" over and over again to emphasize this characteristic of St. Mary's Hospital. Your board needs to lead by example; the example that Roshi Chadha is setting is not one to be followed, and is not one of compassion.
Please, I implore you, request that Roshi Chadha resign as a member of the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation Board.
Kind Regards,
Tracy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy Ford
AREA Fund Co-Founder
tracy@areafund.ca
www.areafund.ca
If you believe a leading asbestos trader should not be a member of the Board of Directors of a hospital, send a brief message requesting that she be asked to resign. Send your message to Rachel Renaud, Cynda Heward, Dr Arvind Joshi and the Board of Directors at the following email addresses: cynda.heward@ssss.gouv.qc.ca ; arvind.joshi@ssss.gouv.qc.ca ; fondation.stmary@ssss.gouv.qc.ca .
Kathleen Ruff
== ==
January 18, 2012
Dear Ms. Renaud, Ms. Heward, Dr. Joshi and Members of the Board of St Mary’s Hospital Foundation
Over the last five years, each one of us has watched one of our immediate family die from a completely preventable form of cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma is an excruciating painful form of cancer that causes the victims to suffocate to death. We watched parents and spouses waste away, helpless to quench their unending thirst, and unable to fill their lungs with the air they desperately needed.
The World Health Organization, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medical Association, the Quebec Medical Association and the Quebec government’s own sixteen Directors of Public Health are just a few of the many reputable health organizations that call for a ban of chrysotile asbestos, the product that Roshi Chadha, your board member, has been involved in exporting for the past 16 years to third world and developing nations. There is no safe form of asbestos, despite what the chrysotile asbestos exporters may tell the innocent people who work in the factories that use Canadian asbestos. Please watch the CBC report, Canada’s Ugly Secret. http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/06/28/national-asbestos.html
It has been proven that chrysotile can’t be used safely in Quebec, according to government standards, so it would be impossible for it to be used safely in the developing world. Thousands of people are going to become victims of asbestos in these countries because of Seja Trade, Ms. Chadha’s export company.
According to the President’s message the board members “lead by example”. The Foundation’s mission is to “strive to provide Healthcare on a Human Scale”. We believe having an executive of Seja Trade on your board is like having someone from the tobacco industry on your board. We ask that you remove this asbestos exporter from your board as surely there can be someone to fill her spot that does not contribute to the painful deaths of 107,000 people a year.
We look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims, speaking up for asbestos victims everywhere
Stacy Cattran
Leah Nielsen
Heidi von Palleske
Dr. Cathy Conrad
Michaela Keyserlingk
== ==
January 23, 2012
I am respectfully requesting that Roshi Chadha be removed as a member of the Board of St. Mary's Hospital Foundation. Her role as an asbestos exporter is in direct conflict with what a medical institution stands for. Please know that asbestos-related diseases are the #1 occupational killer across Canada, there is no known safe exposure limit, and there are no known cures for the diseases that it creates. The WHO has asked for a complete asbestos ban due to the serious and significant negative health impacts of asbestos worldwide.
I watched my Dad die from mesothelioma, a very painful, terminal cancer cause by asbestos, just as he and my Mum were settling into a well-deserved retirement. No one should have to go through what we went through, yet every year thousands more follow in our footsteps as loved ones fall ill and die due to asbestos exposure. My Dad was an electrician - he never worked in a mine or a factory; he never knew that he had been exposed. Back in1953 asbestos was listed as a carcinogen in one of the world's oldest, best known, and most respected medical journals. My Dad was just a boy in 1953, if we had heeded the warnings then, my Dad would still be alive today. This deadly mineral is odourless, tasteless and invisible. The only way to end these senseless deaths from this known carcinogen is to ban asbestos.
No one who supports the asbestos industry in any way should be a board member of any health organization. Your website uses the word "compassionate" over and over again to emphasize this characteristic of St. Mary's Hospital. Your board needs to lead by example; the example that Roshi Chadha is setting is not one to be followed, and is not one of compassion.
Please, I implore you, request that Roshi Chadha resign as a member of the St. Mary's Hospital Foundation Board.
Kind Regards,
Tracy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tracy Ford
AREA Fund Co-Founder
tracy@areafund.ca
www.areafund.ca
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Critics brand asbestos as Canada's latest global sin
By Marianne White, Postmedia News December 28, 2011
QUEBEC — After the oilsands and the seal hunt, asbestos has become Canada's new sin, tarred as an evil at home and abroad.
In just three years, asbestos went from being one of the country's great exports. supported by all political parties at the House of Commons, to being vilified by politicians of all stripes, including some Conservatives.
"We've reached a tipping point in our attitude toward asbestos and so has the world. Canada's boy-scout image is being tarnished," said New Democrat MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos mining since he was first elected in 1997.
"In many circles, we've become an international pariah. Clubbing baby seals, dumping asbestos in the Third World and tarsands are probably the three biggest embarrassments for Canada on the international stage," Martin said.
Canada's reputation took a hit earlier this year, when the government blocked international efforts to label the chrysotile asbestos — the kind mined in Canada — as a hazardous material under the UN Rotterdam Convention.
The European parliament also took shots at Canada earlier this year over the oilsands industry's environmental record, ongoing asbestos exports and the sealing industry.
In a news release, the members of parliament expressed concerns about the "serious harm to the health of workers mining asbestos, the processing and use of which is already banned in the EU."
In November, Australia's Upper House passed a motion urging the government to pressure Canada to stop producing and exporting asbestos — a insulating mineral used in construction that is linked to deadly lung diseases, including cancer.
Activists in Asian countries, notably in India, are increasingly holding demonstrations to protest against asbestos exports, which they say are causing harm to workers.
Mohit Gupta, co-ordinator of the Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India, called Canada's plan to eliminate tariffs on asbestos exports to India "an appalling travesty of all ethical codes of human behaviour."
"All of this is giving Canada an enormous black eye around the world. People can't believe that Canada is acting as a rogue country and that Canada is the biggest public health obstacle internationally to making any progress on the asbestos issue," said Kathleen Ruff, a prominent anti-asbestos campaigner.
But for the president of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Que., activists are "unrelentingly and unfairly" attacking chrysotile asbestos.
"I've been working at the mine, first as an engineer, for 42 years. My son worked here for 15 years. Do you really think we'd be stupid enough to stay on if it were as dangerous as they are claiming?" asks Bernard Coulombe.
He doesn't deny asbestos is a carcinogen, but he stressed it can be harmful only if people are highly exposed and for a long period of time.
"Just like the sun, or alcohol. If you drink too much or lay naked in the sun for hours, it can be dangerous," he said.
The industry and the federal government maintain chrysotile asbestos is safe to handle as long as proper guidelines are followed.
The mineral is banned in Canada and the government is spending millions to remove it from buildings across the country, including the Parliament buildings and the prime minister's residence.
Critics in Canada and overseas have been particularly concerned about exports to developing countries, such as India, that they say lack the safeguards to ensure asbestos is used safely.
A recent documentary of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. showed that, according to the World Health Organization, asbestos kills an estimated 8,000 people each year in India — a situation described as an "epidemic" in the documentary.
The WHO estimates that globally, more than 100,000 people die from asbestos-related illnesses, including cancer, every year.
Coulombe disputes that figure and said he has asked the WHO several times to explain how they came up with the number.
"The controversy is constantly fuelled by false information," Coulombe said, pointing to reports showing workers in India and other countries handling asbestos with their bare hands.
"We make sure it is used safely everywhere we export it. There might be some small mom-and-pops shops who buy asbestos from China and do a bad job, but that represents less than one tenth of a percentage of the industry in India," Coulombe said.
Leslie Stayner, an asbestos expert at the University of Illinois school of public health, says he fears that, in the future, there will be an epidemic of cancer and other diseases as a result of exposure to asbestos in developing countries.
"I'm afraid that the end results of Canada and other countries exporting asbestos will be that the developing world will be experiencing an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases some years from now as we are experiencing in Canada and the U.S.," he said.
Stayner was a key member of a federal government expert panel on asbestos who delivered a report that noted the "strong relationship" between lung cancer and chrysotile asbestos. That report was held back by Ottawa for 13 months before it was released in 2011.
Stayner has called for Canada to ban exports of asbestos and stressed the country could show a leadership role in taking a stand against the mineral.
"The science is very clear, and a number of international bodies have reviewed the issue and have all come to the same conclusion that all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are hazardous and cause cancers in humans. That's not going to change," he said.
Canada is facing a renewed push to ban exports of asbestos for good now that the country's two remaining asbestos mines, located in Quebec, have stopped producing the controversial mineral for the first time in 130 years.
In November, the Lac d'amiante du Canada operation in Thetford Mines suspended its operations because it was having operational obstacles accessing the mineral. In the town of Asbestos, about two hours east of Montreal, the Jeffrey Mine needs a bank-loan guarantee from the Quebec government before it can start digging a new underground mine.
Coulombe said he hopes to resume work next summer if he gets the green light from provincial officials. In the meantime, a small amount continues to be exported, but Coulombe noted that he will be out of stock in five or six months.
Asbestos is a hot-button issue in Quebec and the government is taking its time before deciding whether it will hand out the $58-million loan guarantee.
"We are still analyzing the project and the financial structure," said Quebec Economic Development Minister Sam Hamad.
He noted the government is committed to keep the mine open for economic reasons, but stressed the managers will not get a penny unless they can assure Quebec that asbestos will be used safely where it is exported.
NDP's Pat Martin called on Quebec to seize the opportunity to let the province's struggling asbestos mines die their natural death.
"Let it go. Stop writing the cheques and they'll be out of business. And then we can hold out head up high again," he said. "I think we're within striking distance of victory in terms of banning asbestos."
mwhite@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/whitma
Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Critics+brand+asbestos+Canada+latest+global/5918574/story.html#ixzz1hvyo9YUP
Asbestos Trade Data (2010)
Top Five Producers(tonnes):
Russia 1,000,000
China 400,000
Brazil 270,000
Kazakhstan 214,000
Canada 100,000
Top Five Consumers(tonnes):
China 613,760
India 426,363
Russia 263,037
Brazil 139,153
Indonesia 111,848
QUEBEC — After the oilsands and the seal hunt, asbestos has become Canada's new sin, tarred as an evil at home and abroad.
In just three years, asbestos went from being one of the country's great exports. supported by all political parties at the House of Commons, to being vilified by politicians of all stripes, including some Conservatives.
"We've reached a tipping point in our attitude toward asbestos and so has the world. Canada's boy-scout image is being tarnished," said New Democrat MP Pat Martin, who has been fighting to ban asbestos mining since he was first elected in 1997.
"In many circles, we've become an international pariah. Clubbing baby seals, dumping asbestos in the Third World and tarsands are probably the three biggest embarrassments for Canada on the international stage," Martin said.
Canada's reputation took a hit earlier this year, when the government blocked international efforts to label the chrysotile asbestos — the kind mined in Canada — as a hazardous material under the UN Rotterdam Convention.
The European parliament also took shots at Canada earlier this year over the oilsands industry's environmental record, ongoing asbestos exports and the sealing industry.
In a news release, the members of parliament expressed concerns about the "serious harm to the health of workers mining asbestos, the processing and use of which is already banned in the EU."
In November, Australia's Upper House passed a motion urging the government to pressure Canada to stop producing and exporting asbestos — a insulating mineral used in construction that is linked to deadly lung diseases, including cancer.
Activists in Asian countries, notably in India, are increasingly holding demonstrations to protest against asbestos exports, which they say are causing harm to workers.
Mohit Gupta, co-ordinator of the Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India, called Canada's plan to eliminate tariffs on asbestos exports to India "an appalling travesty of all ethical codes of human behaviour."
"All of this is giving Canada an enormous black eye around the world. People can't believe that Canada is acting as a rogue country and that Canada is the biggest public health obstacle internationally to making any progress on the asbestos issue," said Kathleen Ruff, a prominent anti-asbestos campaigner.
But for the president of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Que., activists are "unrelentingly and unfairly" attacking chrysotile asbestos.
"I've been working at the mine, first as an engineer, for 42 years. My son worked here for 15 years. Do you really think we'd be stupid enough to stay on if it were as dangerous as they are claiming?" asks Bernard Coulombe.
He doesn't deny asbestos is a carcinogen, but he stressed it can be harmful only if people are highly exposed and for a long period of time.
"Just like the sun, or alcohol. If you drink too much or lay naked in the sun for hours, it can be dangerous," he said.
The industry and the federal government maintain chrysotile asbestos is safe to handle as long as proper guidelines are followed.
The mineral is banned in Canada and the government is spending millions to remove it from buildings across the country, including the Parliament buildings and the prime minister's residence.
Critics in Canada and overseas have been particularly concerned about exports to developing countries, such as India, that they say lack the safeguards to ensure asbestos is used safely.
A recent documentary of the Australian Broadcasting Corp. showed that, according to the World Health Organization, asbestos kills an estimated 8,000 people each year in India — a situation described as an "epidemic" in the documentary.
The WHO estimates that globally, more than 100,000 people die from asbestos-related illnesses, including cancer, every year.
Coulombe disputes that figure and said he has asked the WHO several times to explain how they came up with the number.
"The controversy is constantly fuelled by false information," Coulombe said, pointing to reports showing workers in India and other countries handling asbestos with their bare hands.
"We make sure it is used safely everywhere we export it. There might be some small mom-and-pops shops who buy asbestos from China and do a bad job, but that represents less than one tenth of a percentage of the industry in India," Coulombe said.
Leslie Stayner, an asbestos expert at the University of Illinois school of public health, says he fears that, in the future, there will be an epidemic of cancer and other diseases as a result of exposure to asbestos in developing countries.
"I'm afraid that the end results of Canada and other countries exporting asbestos will be that the developing world will be experiencing an epidemic of asbestos-related diseases some years from now as we are experiencing in Canada and the U.S.," he said.
Stayner was a key member of a federal government expert panel on asbestos who delivered a report that noted the "strong relationship" between lung cancer and chrysotile asbestos. That report was held back by Ottawa for 13 months before it was released in 2011.
Stayner has called for Canada to ban exports of asbestos and stressed the country could show a leadership role in taking a stand against the mineral.
"The science is very clear, and a number of international bodies have reviewed the issue and have all come to the same conclusion that all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile, are hazardous and cause cancers in humans. That's not going to change," he said.
Canada is facing a renewed push to ban exports of asbestos for good now that the country's two remaining asbestos mines, located in Quebec, have stopped producing the controversial mineral for the first time in 130 years.
In November, the Lac d'amiante du Canada operation in Thetford Mines suspended its operations because it was having operational obstacles accessing the mineral. In the town of Asbestos, about two hours east of Montreal, the Jeffrey Mine needs a bank-loan guarantee from the Quebec government before it can start digging a new underground mine.
Coulombe said he hopes to resume work next summer if he gets the green light from provincial officials. In the meantime, a small amount continues to be exported, but Coulombe noted that he will be out of stock in five or six months.
Asbestos is a hot-button issue in Quebec and the government is taking its time before deciding whether it will hand out the $58-million loan guarantee.
"We are still analyzing the project and the financial structure," said Quebec Economic Development Minister Sam Hamad.
He noted the government is committed to keep the mine open for economic reasons, but stressed the managers will not get a penny unless they can assure Quebec that asbestos will be used safely where it is exported.
NDP's Pat Martin called on Quebec to seize the opportunity to let the province's struggling asbestos mines die their natural death.
"Let it go. Stop writing the cheques and they'll be out of business. And then we can hold out head up high again," he said. "I think we're within striking distance of victory in terms of banning asbestos."
mwhite@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/whitma
Read more: http://www.canada.com/business/Critics+brand+asbestos+Canada+latest+global/5918574/story.html#ixzz1hvyo9YUP
Asbestos Trade Data (2010)
Top Five Producers(tonnes):
Russia 1,000,000
China 400,000
Brazil 270,000
Kazakhstan 214,000
Canada 100,000
Top Five Consumers(tonnes):
China 613,760
India 426,363
Russia 263,037
Brazil 139,153
Indonesia 111,848
Thursday, December 15, 2011
most insulation workers to develop asbestosis
This post was originally published on the CSRHUB blog
By Carol Pierson Holding
When a friend sent me this photo of a giant inflatable rat wearing a sign “Asbestos Kills,” the first thing I thought of was Bahar Gidwani’s March 2011 post on CSRHUB blog. Gidwani’s piece was inspired and also illustrated by a rat photo he’d taken near the Citicorp building in midtown New York, which in turn was inspired by the rat’s presence several years ago at a building next to his that employed non-union staff. Why had it reappeared?
Gidwani connected the return of inflatable union rats to the resurgence of union activism following the Wisconsin government union protests. Apparently, unions sense a change in public perception, a new acceptance of their role in maintaining worker’s rights. As union support grows, the huge inflatable rats, some up to 20 feet tall, have become somewhat beloved. According to the New York Observer, they even have a nickname, “Scabbies.”
Now the Scabbies have been adapted to bring awareness to a more pernicious issue, asbestos poisoning. By adding the sign “Asbestos Kills” around Scabbies’ necks, the Asbestos, Lead and Hazardous Waste (ALHW) Laborer’s Union 78 of NYC, Long Island and New Jersey is able to bring support for the Scabbies to their cause: only union labor is safe for asbestos removal.
Formed in 1996, ALHW has 4,000 members and 200 signatory environmental contractors, who remove about 90 percent of asbestos in the region. What they promise is safe removal of asbestos, in accordance with the maze of federal, state and local regulations.
But is the work the Asbestos Rats are protesting really sub-standard or just non-union? Or, as the Upper West Side blog asks, is this about a pissed-off union or a legitimate safety issue? The union arguments are the same at every protest location, that the landlord hired “a sub-standard company to perform deadly asbestos removal.”The fact is, removing asbestos safely is incredibly complicated. New York State’s 221 pages of requirements include special training for workers, an engineering survey, assessments of worker exposure, plans for dust suppression, decontamination of all equipment used, a water tight dumpster for disposing asbestos materials, decontamination of workers (a three-stage procedure) — the list seems endless and the rules difficult to understand and follow.
And there have been scandals around asbestos removal, with some companies having a record of violations and fines. So yes, there are substandard contractors that will cut the enormous expense involved in asbestos removal, which can run more than the cost of demolition. But crooked contractors are only one problem. In 2010, a federal EPA investigation uncovered a New York City safety inspector who had falsified results for 10 years, giving a clean report to over 200 buildings that were never inspected. So focusing a spotlight on the issue is warranted.
Despite all the precautions, 10,000 people in the US are killed by the toxin every year – most but not all workers who are exposed daily. In 1964, the American Medical Association published Dr. Irving Selikoff’s group’s study showing that over twenty years, most insulation workers would develop asbestosis.
Government union workers raised issues that are important to maintaining a just society, such as the right to collective bargaining. Now, the ALHW union is raising an issue that is even more serious, the removal of asbestos in a way that doesn’t release its lethal fibers. Asbestos poisons not only the ALHM’s workers, but also the apartments, workplaces and schools of American families. There’s still a lot of it that has to be removed. Regardless of their motivation, ALHM is right to bring attention to the issue of its safe removal.
Carol Pierson Holding writes on environmental issues and social responsibility for policy and news publications, including the Carnegie Council’s Policy Innovations, Harvard Business Review, San Francisco Chronicle, India Time, The Huffington Post and many other web sites. Her articles on corporate social responsibility can be found on CSRHUB.com, a website that provides sustainability ratings data on 5,000 companies worldwide. Carol holds degrees from Smith College and Harvard University.
CSRHUB is a corporate social responsibility (CSR) ratings tool that allows managers, consultants, academics and activists to track the sustainability performance of major companies. We aggregate data from more than 125 sources including seven leading socially responsible investing (SRI) analysts, Carbon Disclosure Project, indexes, NGOs, crowd sources, and government agencies to provide our users with a comprehensive source of employee, environmental, community, and governance information on nearly 5,000 publicly traded companies in 65 countries. CSRHUB is a B Corporation.
Canadian Red Cross May Remove Board Member Roshi Chadha Because Of Asbestos Ties
Amid mounting pressure, the Canadian Red Cross likely will ask for the resignation of executive board member Roshi Chadha next month because of her strong link to the asbestos industry. 
Mesothelioma is the deadly cancer caused by the inhalation of asbestos.
Chadha is an executive for Seja Trade Ltd, a shipping company that exports raw asbestos from Quebec. Seja Trade also is a subsidiary of Balcorp., which is awaiting a controversial, $58 million government loan guarantee to re-open an asbestos mine in Jeffrey. The president of Balcorp is Baljit Chadha, the husband of Roshi.
“It’s really hypocritical of her to be on the board of the Red Cross, which is a wonderful organization. If she doesn’t resign, they should remove her,” anti-asbestos advocate Stacy Cattran told The Mesothelioma Center on Tuesday. “I think the Red Cross will do the right thing.”
The Red Cross is considered the world’s leading humanitarian organization, providing much-needed disaster relief both at home and abroad, often to developing countries where the asbestos is being shipped.
The Red Cross also has been assisting victims of mesothelioma in Canada, including the father of Cattran, who died in 2008, just three months after being diagnosed. Her father died at age 72 after working much of his career as an electrician, where he was exposed to asbestos for many years.
“Having someone on the board who supports the export of asbestos just flys in the face of their mission,” Cattran said. “They support saving lives, not ending them with asbestos.”
Although the use of asbestos has been restricted dramatically in both the United States and Canada, Balcorp is hoping to capitalize on the growing demand for it in India and Asia. The last two asbestos mines in Canada were temporarily closed in November, although Balcorp is making plans to reopen at least one of them again.
Much of the asbestos production in the world now comes from Russia, Kazakhstan, China and Brazil. Canadian asbestos often has been viewed as a higher quality than that coming from other countries.
The mining of asbestos stopped in the United States in 2002, but 820 metric tons were imported in the first half of 2010, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, and much of it came from Canada.
Cattran is a co-founder of Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims, which joined with the U.S.-based Asbestos-Disease Awareness Group to present an official Declaration to both President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Stephen Harper to support a North America ban on asbestos.
Christopher Hilton, a spokesman for the Canadian Red Cross, told the Vancouver Sun that his organization will consider the concerns raised by anti-asbestos activists at a board meeting in January.
“It’s a matter for the board,” Hilton said. “I’m not going to presuppose what the board is going to do.”
According to the Sun, Chadha was elected to the Red Cross Board of Directors in 2008. She is one of four at-large members on the 16-person board. She also is on the board of directors for St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation and at McGill University Health Centre.
The asbestos issue in Canada generates considerable more debate than it does in the United States, at least partially because the Conservative Party has supported it with subsidies. The Canadian government also blocked the listing of chrysotile asbestos on the Hazardous Materials list of the Rotterdam Convention this summer in Geneva, Switzerland.
Putting asbestos on that list would have made it more difficult to export, allowing importing counties to refuse acceptance of it if they thought the asbestos could not be handled safely.
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