Sacrosanct Canadian Carcinogen
The question must be asked: Why is this Conservative-led majority government still licking the boots of Quebec? Is it a principled stand that the Conservatives take in assuring Quebec that the federal government fully supports the mining and export of chrysotile asbestos? There is a scant several hundred workers employed in asbestos extraction, so that's saving a relative handful of jobs for a material once used in construction but now recognized as a carcinogen.
Asbestos is recognized as being adverse to human health. Those who mine it and those who have been exposed to it have been horribly affected by ill health and early deaths thanks to the dread asbestosis. At the turn of the 20th Century it was discovered that Quebec had a huge cache of asbestos, and the raw product was shipped out in particularly large quantities to the United States where it was transformed into roof shingles and insulation.
Pipes and boilers were covered with asbestos, it made its way into battleships and car brakes, and fireproofed thousands of private and public buildings with shingles and siding coated with the asbestos. Even the ancients know of the properties of asbestos and used it for building purposes. Italian immigrants who travelled to America to begin new lives, away from their impoverished southern Italy roots were employed in the industry.
The American writer Gay Talese wrote about his grandfather after whom he was named, Gaetano Talese, who worked a double shift at the Keasbey & Mattison asbestos factory in Ambler, Pennsylvania. He described the breakdown of his grandfather's health, his breathing difficulties that culminated in his wasting away, returning to small-town Italy, and dying a miserable death there.
Canada continues to mine the stuff, although it's a dying industry; no advanced country of the world will use it, but it remains in use in countries where workers' health is not top-of-mind of their governments. Canada assuages its conscience by saying that chrysotile asbestos is perfectly safe if it's used with certain safeguards. Workers in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia have no safeguards.
It's utterly inexcusable that this government continues to defend the asbestos industry in Quebec, a dreadful black mark on the conscience of the country.
Asbestos is recognized as being adverse to human health. Those who mine it and those who have been exposed to it have been horribly affected by ill health and early deaths thanks to the dread asbestosis. At the turn of the 20th Century it was discovered that Quebec had a huge cache of asbestos, and the raw product was shipped out in particularly large quantities to the United States where it was transformed into roof shingles and insulation.
Pipes and boilers were covered with asbestos, it made its way into battleships and car brakes, and fireproofed thousands of private and public buildings with shingles and siding coated with the asbestos. Even the ancients know of the properties of asbestos and used it for building purposes. Italian immigrants who travelled to America to begin new lives, away from their impoverished southern Italy roots were employed in the industry.
The American writer Gay Talese wrote about his grandfather after whom he was named, Gaetano Talese, who worked a double shift at the Keasbey & Mattison asbestos factory in Ambler, Pennsylvania. He described the breakdown of his grandfather's health, his breathing difficulties that culminated in his wasting away, returning to small-town Italy, and dying a miserable death there.
Canada continues to mine the stuff, although it's a dying industry; no advanced country of the world will use it, but it remains in use in countries where workers' health is not top-of-mind of their governments. Canada assuages its conscience by saying that chrysotile asbestos is perfectly safe if it's used with certain safeguards. Workers in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia have no safeguards.
It's utterly inexcusable that this government continues to defend the asbestos industry in Quebec, a dreadful black mark on the conscience of the country.
Labels: Government of Canada, Science, Technology
posted by Pieface | 8:14 PM
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