Canada is one of the few countries that still mines and produces asbestos, which it exports to countries such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan for use in construction material. Quebec, where Canada’s two asbestos mines are located, has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world.

This week, according to a report by the Canadian HR Reporter, the Canadian Labour Congress is calling for a ban on the mining, and a financial support plan for the approximately 700 miners who would be affected by the industry closure.

The call for the ban comes despite delays in making public the results of a scientific study examining the health risks of asbestos. According to CBCNews.ca, “Michel Arsenault, president of the Quebec Federation of Labour, in February convinced his colleagues at the Canadian Labour Congress not to call for a ban on asbestos mining until after the study was completed and made public.”

The study, conducted under the direction of Health Canada, was begun last November by a team of seven scientific and medical experts. According to CBC, the report was completed in March and promised to be released in weeks. Experts who worked on the project are objecting to the delay in releasing the report.

CBC quotes Leslie Staynor, head of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois, who worked on the study, as saying, “I want to make the record clear that nothing in the report would argue against the sensibility of an asbestos ban in Canada or for that matter anywhere else in the world.”

The CBC report points out that asbestos has been called a “deadly threat” by the International Labour Organization, the World Health Organization, the International Association for Cancer Research and many more health agencies.

Tags: asbestos, Canada, Canadian Labour Congress, Congress, Leslie Staynor, meso, mesothelioma, Quebec, Quebec Federation of Labour, research, School of Public Health, World Health Organization

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