Health Canada Updates Asbestos Verbiage

A recent change in Health Canada‘s official position on asbestos comes in the wake of the industry’s collapse in this country. Even if we had to wait for the political optics to change, however, the move to recognize the weight of scientific and medical opinion on the health consequences of asbestos exposure is a welcome…

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Toronto High School Closed Over Asbestos

Students at a Toronto Catholic high school were sent home after tests showed the presence of asbestos. The situation began with maintenance work on the swimming pool and change rooms at the school east of the downtown area. The first round of testing found asbestos on the tile grout in the change rooms. While it…

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Canadian Federal Government Finally Backs Down from Asbestos Stance

Just as we speculated a couple of weeks ago, the federal government has now jumped off the sinking ship of asbestos production and exportation from Quebec. Specifically, the Harper government has reversed the pro-asbestos stand it’s held in the face of international outcry and announced that it will no longer block international efforts to add chrysotile asbestos – the variety found and mined in Quebec – from the Rotterdam Convention.

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Does the Parti Québécois (PQ) Victory Mean the End of Canadian Asbestos Exportation?

The recent Québec election that saw the Parti Québécois recapturing the province may spell the end of the Canadian exportation industry. During the campaign, Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois herself has previously stated that if elected her government would cancel the $58-million loan which was extended by the Jean Charest government to the company looking to re-open the giant Jeffrey asbestos mine.

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Canadian Asbestos Exportation Continues to Draw Headlines

The international uproar over the Quebec government’s decision to green light the reopening of the giant Jeffrey Asbestos Mine by way of a $58 million loan just won’t go away this summer. The latest volley in the ongoing battle to stop Canadian asbestos exportation came from a long time anti-asbestos activist, Kathleen Ruff. Ms. Ruff and her sister lost their father to asbestos related disease and have organized the 2nd annual Walk to Remember Victims of Asbestos to take place in Sarnia on September 29, 2012.

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Asbestos News: Statement Calls for Outright Global Ban

Voices continue to rise in opposition to the Quebec government’s Canada Day announcement that they will grant a direct loan of $58 million to reopen the Jeffrey Mine, the world’s largest asbestos mine.

A Statement endorsed by over 150 public health and other organizations along with individual scientists calls for an outright worldwide ban on the mining, use and export of all forms of asbestos – including the chrysotile variety that Canadian interests plan to soon begin producing and exporting.

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Canada and Asbestos Exportation: The Truth

As reported in Postmedia News recently, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act seem to clearly indicate that the Canadian government has been helping to promote the supposedly “safe” mining and use of chrysotile asbestos even as it acknowledged the documented health risks. This comes in direct contrast to the current federal government’s repeated assertions that Canada’s position has been consistent throughout.

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