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What Happens to Canadian Asbestos In India?
By asbestoshub | November 14, 2008
Narayan Mehra is a small man with gray hair and good posture. He worked in the turbine department at a thermal power plant mixing asbestos from Canada and India with other chemicals, then putting it on pipes for insulation.
“It was a good job,” he says, it provided him with enough money to buy a house and raise a family in the 1970s.
Mr. Mehra never knew asbestos was dangerous. Before he retired, he was diagnosed with asbestosis.
Usually the body’s filters keep particles from settling in the lungs, but asbestos fibers are little slivers of rock. A recent X-ray reveals that Mr. Mehra’s wife has the same scars on her lungs, even though she never worked at the plant; instead, she washed her husband’s clothes.
Despite the estimated thousands of Canadians who have died and the World Health Organization’s call for a global ban, Canada continues to send asbestos to countries in the developing world. Chrysotile asbestos is recognized as the least dangerous type of asbestos, but is still classified as a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). The Canadian position is that risks can be controlled.
An editorial in the Canadian Medical Association Journal describes Canada’s position as “self-serving,” if not preposterous. “Most developed countries, including Canada, have concluded that their occupational health and safety systems were no match for handling asbestos safely … for Canada to pretend that India, Thailand and Indonesia can succeed in managing asbestos safely, when developed countries have failed, is fanciful.”
The Canadian chrysotile asbestos industry is located in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. In the heyday of global asbestos consumption, Canada was the main player. Now, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Zimbabwe mine at lower costs, the Canadian industry has shrunk significantly, and now employs about 1,000 people.
Last year, Canada exported $77 million worth of asbestos; 43% of it went to India, where is is mixed with cement and used to create infrastructure like pipes, brakes, and rooftops.
When asbestos rock is processed, it separates into strong fibers that can be used as insulation, or in such products as fire blankets, ceiling tiles and pipes. It is used frequently because the fibers are strong and resistant to heat.
The Canadian government maintains that while chrysotile asbestos is carcinogenic, it can be used safely if proper controls are in place. Critics have questioned this for years. Many other countries have implemented bans.
When the Quebec government implemented a policy to increase its usage of chrysotile asbestos in 2002, the Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec published a report that stated the government shouldn’t be endorsing the mineral because it was a proven human carcinogen that was difficult to use safely, especially in construction, renovation and asbestos-processing industries.
According to Clément Godbout, director of the Chrysotile Institute in Montreal, far more countries use the mineral than do not. He says emotion clouds the debate and people who have lost family members have a hard time keeping an open mind. They don’t understand, or perhaps don’t want to understand, that working conditions are different now and that different types of asbestos are used, he says.
Mr. Godbout explains that it was amphibole asbestos — amosite, crocidolite, and tremolite — that made people sick because the fibers are needle-like, and have a longer “biopersistence” in the lungs. He says chrysotile asbestos is of the serpentine family, and the fibres are eliminated from the lung easily.
Scientists have debated the danger of chrysotile fibres to such an extent that terms have been coined for the bitterly divided camps: “Chrysophiles” say amphibole fibres caused so many illnesses in the past. “Chrysophobes” say chrysotile asbestos is just as bad — and point to the high cancer rates among Canadians exposed to that type of asbestos.
But those who support a chrysotile ban say controls are not enforced in the developing world.
In 1984, the Canadian asbestos industry created the Chrysotile Institute. Since then the Canadian government has contributed more than $19 million to the institute since its inception.
The institute bills itself as an industry leader for promoting the safe use of chrysotile asbestos around the world. Leading researcher Barry Castleman, author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects, says the institute makes the global situation worse by legitimizing bad science.
In India, Narayan and Sureetha Mehra have no position on the matter. Mr. Mehra’s compensation case has languished before the Gujarati High Court for 14 years, and the couple don’t have enough money to finance a claim on Mrs. Mehra’s behalf. Their children support them, and Mr. Mehra uses his pocket change to buy the inhalers he needs to breathe.
Mr. Mehra was exposed to asbestos from all over the world in his job: India, Russia, Canada.
Asbestos Types
Chrysotile (white asbestos) — Mined from serpentine rock. Chrysotile is the most flexible form of asbestos, and the most prevalent commercially. Some scientists say because chrysotile fibres are somewhat curly, they do not stick around in the lungs like the straight, needle-like fibres from the amphibole family. There has been a continued debate about the danger of chrysotile asbestos.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a known human carcinogen.
Amosite (brown asbestos) — Used to be mined from amphibole rock in South Africa, but is no longer mined. Generally accepted to be the second-most-dangerous type of asbestos. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a known human carcinogen.
Crocidolite (blue asbestos) — Mined from amphibole rock in South Africa and Australia. Considered the most dangerous type of asbestos. Crocidolite fibres are straight and needle-like and known for staying in the lungs. It is no longer mined. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies it as a known human carcinogen.
Diseases
Asbestosis — Asbestosis is scarring of the lungs. After prolonged exposure to asbestos, scars form where asbestos fibers have lodged. There is usually a latency period of several decades. The scars make it difficult to breathe by decreasing the elasticity in the lungs. There is no cure, and symptoms get worse over time.
Mesothelioma — A rare cancer linked to asbestos exposure. The cancer forms in the mesothelium, which is the pleura, or thin lining around the lungs. It takes decades to form after asbestos fibers settle in the lining of the chest cavitity or the abdomen. Tumors form and compress lungs, making it very difficult to breathe and swallow. There is also extreme weight loss. The latency period can vary from 10 to 40 years. Death is common within six months to two years of diagnosis.
Lung cancer — Lung cancer can be caused by asbestos.
Pleural plaques — Pleural plaques are an indicator of asbestos exposure, and are patches of tough, callus-like tissue inside the chest wall.
Topics: Exposure |
