Asbestos Ban Controversy

Asbestos Ban Controversy

For decades, the Canadian government and the government of Quebec “where the remaining asbestos mines are located “have been financially supporting the Chrysotile Institute (CI), an asbestos lobby group. But in March 2011, Ottawa chose not to allocate funds for CI for the following year, marking the first step in the right direction for asbestos ban supporters. In addition, a federation of 300,000 unionized Quebecers also pulled their funding, and experts believed the asbestos industry was starting to weaken. It turns out they were right. In April 2012, the Institute announced its intention to shut down.

Canada has long resisted a universal ban of asbestos as proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) and many other countries. At the 2008 Rotterdam Convention, Canada, India, Pakistan and a few other countries voted to keep chrysotile asbestos off of a United Nations "watchlist" of dangerous chemicals. After many hours of deliberation, chrysotile asbestos was not added to the watchlist, and Canada continues to be a major exporter of chrysotile asbestos to many countries who do not monitor asbestos exposure or regulate its use.

The Canadian Cancer Society and the International Labour Organization have largely been ignored in their push to ban asbestos in Canada. To date, all 27 European Union countries, Australia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Chile and Japan have banned asbestos in their countries. The government of Canada continues to hold out on an asbestos ban, due in part to its $100 million dollar chrysotile asbestos industry.