International Activists Call on Canada to Stop Asbestos Exports

Yesterday, the Solidarity Delegation from Asia to Quebec, a group of activists, trade union representatives and victims from India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan made their way to Canada. Their mission? To stop the exportation of Canada's asbestos, which is creating a massive public health problem for communities around the world.

As profiled in the Toronto Star, the delegation is asking Quebec's government not to support the expansion of the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos, Quebec, which is responsible for a large portion of Canada's asbestos exports.

The existing open-pit mine is almost depleted, meaning that an expansion is necessary for operations to continue. An expansion would keep the mine going for the next 20 years, resulting in the exportation of around 150,000 tons of asbestos a year.

A known carcinogen, asbestos is banned in the European Union and over fifty countries. Its use in the U.S. has almost been phased out, and the industry has had to pay out billions in litigation costs.

Yet the high-strength, fibrous mineral, used in a slew of housing materials and other products, is sought-after and relatively cheap, so the exportation of the product continues -- mostly to developing countries.

But despite its usefulness, it's also highly dangerous. Breathing in the small asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis, a potentially deadly lung disease.

Although strict standards regulate the handling and use of asbestos in places like Canada and the U.S., poorer countries do not have the same safeguards in the place.

Indian activist Omama George, a coordinator at the Asia Monitor Resource Centre, told the Toronto Star that many people in India, where a large portion of Quebec's asbestos ends up, don't know what it is and unwittingly expose themselves. People break it and cut it up, which can release the dangerous fibers.

"In Quebec, it is illegal for people to be exposed to damaged pieces of asbestos. In Asia, this is common," one delegate noted. "Broken pieces of asbestos cement are re-used for homes and children play amongst asbestos cement rubble. Many people have never even heard of asbestos, but that doesn't stop it from killing them."

Although some of the delegates came from countries that have banned asbestos, including South Korea and Japan, the long-term health effects are still being felt. But unlike victims in the U.S, victims abroad will likely have fewer resources to file legal action.

Instead, they are trying to prevent the expansion, which is backed the Mouvement Pro Chrysotile. According to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Canadian government is in on it too, supporting an industry-wide lobbying campaign to ensure that the global trade in asbestos continues to continue.

In August, Machamad Darisman, an Indonesian community activist, took photos of adults and children looking through a dump outside a roofing company that uses asbestos, using bags from an abestos mine in Quebec. At the meeting this week, he brought one of the bags back to Quebec in order to give it the mayor of Asbestos.

The Solidarity Delegation from Asia to Quebec is holding a press conference in the Quebec National Assembly and a press conference in the House of Commons tomorrow, December 9th. In addition, the Global Ban Asbestos Network (GBAN), a social media community dedicated to ridding the world of asbestos, is demonstrating outside the Canada House in London and in the Philippines.

You can show your support for the delegates by posting a support message on Thursday to the GBAN Facebook page or sign the petition calling on the Canadian government to end their deadly exports.

Photo credit: ktheory