The case for selling asbestos: Canada major exporter

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The case for selling asbestos: Canada major exporter

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Barry Artiste Op/Ed

The case for exporting Cancer in Mineral form is Politics, plain and simple. Asbestos, Quebec is a small town, with a small population, but a big Liberal stronghold in the region by those whose livelihood is mining asbestos.

Asbestos comes in many forms, in it's raw form is serpentine, and actually looks like rough Jade, in which British Columbia has an abundance of both, hard to tell unless you take a dental pick and poke at the veins and fluff it up like dental floss.

My folks when they lived in Sacramento, Calif, had their neighborhood built entirely on top of a asbestos mountain.

Our rock was a pretty green jade colour, mixed with jade and green asbestos. Health Canada issued warnings about asbestos since the 1970s, though banned in Canada, it is still being exported, to numerous Liberal politicians it was a political hot potato, many say politicians in Quebec are part and parcel of a big asbestos lobby and fought tooth and nail to keep the asbestos machines humming along on that mountain in Asbestos, Quebec.

Currently there are thousands of uses for asbestos in thousands of manufactured products on the market. Europe did not ban asbestos until the early to mid 1990s, some flooring from Europe during that time could have found its way to Canadian markets.

Did you know that in North America virtually every home built before 1980, is 90% likely to have asbestos containing materials in it? Did you know at one time your oven mitts were asbestos?

Everything from drywall taping compounds (Plaster) ceiling texture, vinyl floor tile and vinyl sheet flooring, lighting shields, toaster and oven element shields, roof shingles and roof felts, as well as duct mastic (Black and Red) to bathroom grouts, transite boards and pipes and furnace tape on ductwork and attic insulation called Vermiculite etc.

Asbestos is the perfect fire retardant, so it was used everywhere including brake shoes. Many do not realise it when they sand their walls or do home renovations, so best take a sample of your drywall inside a corner of the wall a 2 inch by 2 inch sample, then send it to a lab for analysis before renovating. 

Ever look around your neighbourhood and watch a developer demolishing that old 30 year old home?

Have you ever stopped to inquire if the developer removed that asbestos in the home before they demolished it? 

Ever notice while they are demolishing that 30 year old home, a crowd of children gather around to watch the demolition?  Did you know the dust from that demolition most likely is asbestos dust your kids are breathing not to mention that asbestos laden dust from the drywall will float throughout your neighbourhood and land everywhere including getting sucked into your furnace air supply.

We have laws in British Columbia, and most provinces and in the United States against people demolishing any home built before 1980, it is called a Hazardous Materials Survey, in which all pre 1980 homes must be sampled for asbestos before anyone can demolish it.  If asbestos is found in these homes, it must be removed safely first before demolishing the home.  Guess how many developers do this? Guess how many City inspectors enforce it?  Less than 1%. 

What can you do? Call your city hall, health unit or Workmen Compensation office, WorksafeBC and inform them.  They will send someone out immediately and shut down the whole demolition and levy big fines.  Since Environmentalism is the big catchword today, surprising that this still goes on, as developers hire labourers who without their knowledge risk getting cancer as they start to demolish these pre 1980 homes.  Not to mention exposing the neighborhood to cancer risks.

Canada and North America even import Asbestos in manufactured form into both our countries,everything from flooring to fireproofing materials.

In manufactured form it is harmless until friable, whereby one can by mechanical or hand pressure reduce the asbestos in the material to the consistency of dust. Certainly almost impossible to do. 

Asbestos has it's uses in ships and planes, a fire aboard these two modes of transportation will have many thankful asbestos is on board, because without it protecting vital components, you would be at th bottom of davy jones locker or plummeting 20 thousand feet into the ground.  Again, it has it's uses.

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/story.html?id=899326

The case for selling asbestos

National Post Published: Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Canada is the world's largest remaining exporter of chrysotile asbestos, a relatively benign form of the heat-resistant mineral whose other varieties ended myriads of human lives prematurely during its mid-century heyday as an insulating material and fire retardant.

In the latest edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, dated Tuesday, three contributors attack the government for this state of affairs.

The authors call Ottawa an "asbestos cheerleader," and compare its chrysotile policy to arms dealing and tobacco sales.

They point out that chrysotile is officially listed as a carcinogen by several agencies, and that it is now marketed chiefly to third-world countries as an additive to cement.