Ending the denial

Pat Martin and the NDP now have a strong new ally in their ongoing efforts to ban the manufacture and use of asbestos, as the Canadian Cancer Society is set to slam federal policy which has both encouraged continued asbestos manufacturing, and blocked international efforts to reduce its use:

The Canadian Cancer Society will announce as early as today that it endorses a ban on the export of asbestos and believes the federal government should stop blocking international efforts to curb the trade in the dangerous mineral.

Although asbestos is internationally recognized as one of the worst cancer-causing materials ever to have been in widespread use, the society's decision was controversial because it undermines Ottawa's long-standing contention asbestos can be used safely and should be promoted.

Most industrialized countries, including Canada, no longer use much asbestos because of health concerns and worries over legal liabilities...

In recognition that calling for a ban is politically sensitive, the society is expected to say instead that it believes the use of asbestos should be eliminated, which is tantamount to a call for a ban...

Despite the well-known health risks, the federal government has been a strong backer of asbestos.

It has spent about $19.2-million from 1984 to 2007, including regular funding of the Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute, to promote asbestos use.

Although many countries have banned asbestos, Canada continues to allow it in children's toys and building materials, among other products.

The cancer society will also recommend that the federal government stop trying to block efforts by the Rotterdam Convention, a UN-organized body, at its meeting in 2008, to place the variety of asbestos mined in Canada on the list of the world's most dangerous substances.

Unfortunately, the NDP has so far been the lone party willing to take any steps to reduce asbestos use and production. And it's to the discredit of all other parties that they seem to have valued the protection of the asbestos mining industry more than the workers and consumers who stand to suffer from the continued use of a toxic substance.

But the Cancer Society's announcement should both bring the issue back into the public eye, and highlight the fact that the question of asbestos use is intricately linked to major health concerns. And that kind of attention should go a long way toward the kind of political change needed to put an end to asbestos production.