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Explosion and Asbestos Fallout in Canada
By asbestoshub | August 20, 2008
Residents near Bombardier’s Downsview testing facility in Canada were still recovering from the shock of the deadly propane explosion in early August 2008 that drove 12,000 from their homes when another ugly threat suddenly surfaced: potential asbestos contamination from the flattened fuel facility.
In the aftermath, about 100 homes were declared off-limits to their owners, as work crews cleaned up debris from contaminated streets and playgrounds thrown off by the blast that may have contained asbestos fibers.
“The problem with asbestos is, when it’s disturbed and becomes airborne, it becomes dangerous to people,” Mayor David Miller warned. Residents were barred from returning to their homes, even for brief visits to collect valuables, cherished keepsakes and medicines as cleanup continued.
There’s a message here for Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government. If asbestos is such a threat to human health, why is Canada one of the last developed countries to mine and export it? 
In 2006, Canada exported 161,000 tons of chrysotile asbestos fiber products worth $112 million to about 70 countries. The industry is concentrated in Quebec, where it employs some 900 people directly, and 1,000 indirectly as the world’s fifth-largest producer.
More than 90,000 people die each year from cancer and other asbestos-related diseases as a result of exposure at work, says the World Health Organization, which calls it “one of the most serious occupational carcinogens.” Major health agencies have warned that there is no safe threshold at which there is no cancer risk.
Which explains why asbestos is currently being removed from the Parliament buildings as part of a costly renovation.
Asbestos is used in asbestos-cement building materials, roofing shingles, water lines and auto parts such as brake linings, gaskets and pads. The Canadian industry maintains it is safe when properly handled. But the Downsview blast is a stark reminder of what happens when things go wrong. WHO warns that workers are most at risk when buildings are renovated or demolished. And the agency says asbestos can be replaced with other, safer fibres.
Yet Canada continues to export asbestos and the government appears to support the industry.
Perhaps Canada will implement relocation and retraining programs to move Quebec’s asbestos miners into less destructive work and stop exporting poison.
Topics: Exposure |
August 20th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
No party will close down a business in Quebec until the provincial government asks them to. Political reality in Canada!