Asbestos industry

Contractor whistleblower in fight with Public Works after asbestos exposure

Topics: 
Prisons, Workplace conditions, Public health & safety, Public Works, PSIC, Mario Dion, Asbestos industry, Audio
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Julie Ireton – April 25, 2013

Don Garrett says it should have been one of the simplest construction jobs he'd ever done. Instead, the British Columbia contractor said he was exposed to high levels of asbestos, almost lost his business and has been fighting with federal government bureaucrats for more than three years.

"I was taking this material home, it was on my clothes. I didn’t know I was dealing with asbestos so it entered my household," said Garrett. Garrett owns a construction business in Hope, B.C. In 2009, he was contracted by Public Works Government Services Canada to replace 160 sinks and toilets inside the Kent Institution — a maximum security, federal prison in B.C.'s Fraser Valley.

Pro-Asbestos group planning to dissolve

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Asbestos industry
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Robert Hiltz – April 30, 2012

A decades-old pro-asbestos lobby group, currently funded by the Quebec government, will be shutting its doors after notifying the federal government of its plan to dissolve.

The Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute issued the notice in the Canada Gazette - the government's official publication for announcing new laws and other public information. The institute, first formed in 1984, promotes the safe use of chrysotile asbestos on behalf of Canada's asbestos mining industry.

Canada's chronic asbestos problem

Topics: 
Corruption, Asbestos industry, Public health & safety
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John Gray and Stephanie Nolen - The Globe and Mail

For a place of modest size, Asbestos has made an impressive imprint on the Canadian psyche. In 1949, the Asbestos Strike—which took place at the mines in Asbestos and nearby Thetford Mines—helped to usher in the Quiet Revolution that shaped the modern Quebec. And in 2011, the place’s eponymous product is giving a black eye to Canada’s international reputation as a fair dealer.

Most of the world, including the medical community, agrees that asbestos is desperately dangerous. The World Health Organization reports that more than 100,000 people die every year from lung cancer and other respiratory diseases due to asbestos exposure. And many more will die, because 125 million people are exposed to asbestos in their workplaces today and every day.

Asbestos: a deadly double standard

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Asbestos industry
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Ottawa Citizen Editorial – June 16, 2011

The federal government's deadly double standard on the export of asbestos is indefensible. Asbestos is strictly regulated and has long been pulled out of buildings at home – including, notably, the Parliament Buildings – in order to protect the health of Canadians, yet the government continues to support the export of asbestos from Canada around the world, ignoring the advice of medical professionals, scientists, even Health Canada, in the process.

Canadian government officials stubbornly defend the product as safe, if handled properly, even though they no longer sound convinced by their sales pitches. Nor should they.

Invisible killer still haunting B.C. workers

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Asbestos industry
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Ethan Baron – September 5, 2010

Kurt Hilger may or may not have a deadly time bomb in his body. At age 14, he followed his father into work at the Cassiar asbestos mine in northern B.C. Dust from the mine and its two huge tailings piles was "all over the place," Hilger remembers.

"Mom would have to check to see which way the wind was blowing before she put the laundry out." His father Hartmut died painfully three years ago from mesothelioma, prompting Hilger to look into his own risks.

BBC asbestos report slams Canada

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Asbestos industry
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The Canadian Press – July 22, 2010

Canada's controversial asbestos industry was hit with a public-relations tsunami Wednesday, following a volley of damning international media reports that probed the use of the disputed building material in developing countries.

The British Broadcasting Corporation — which claims a worldwide audience of 241 million — aired an in-depth series on the asbestos trade as part of a joint investigation.

Inside the global asbestos trade

Topics: 
Asbestos industry, Mining
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Jim Morris and Steve Bradshaw – July 21, 2010

Banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, white asbestos continues to be widely used in China, India, Russia and Brazil, and many developing countries. The BBC's Steve Bradshaw and Jim Morris from the ICIJ report on an industry supported by a global network of lobby groups.

The Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec is an astonishing sight. "Big and beautiful," says one of the regular flow of tourists and locals who peer into its depths from a public observation deck.

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