Safe Then, Is It?

Now that's a little hard to fathom. A humanitarian agency like the Canadian branch of the International Red Cross Society, having on its board of directors someone intimately involved in a business that in actual fact has the effect of destroying human life. Bad enough that the Government of Canada steadfastly ignores calls to ban the export of chrysotile asbestos from Quebec to the developing world where asbestos use, despite its reputation as a carcinogen, is commonly used in building materials.

The governments of Quebec and Canada continue to insist that chrysotile is a type of asbestos whose use is perfectly safe as long as it is used under special, very careful circumstances. As though workers in third-world countries can be assured that those who hire them, let alone local governments, much care for the workplace health and safety of workers. The use of asbestos - any kind of asbestos - leads directly to impaired lungs; the dreaded "black lung" disease.

The Montreal-based Seja Trade Ltd., a subsidiary of Balcorp Ltd., (specialists in international trade and marketing) exports asbestos from the open-pit Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec, to India. Baljit Singh Chadha is the founder and the president of Balcorp, a hugely successful enterprise as a $50-million business with offices in Montreal, New Delhi and Mumbai.

The company is involved in agricultural food products, processed foods, forestry products, and minerals. All of which is perfectly straightforward. It is the company's ongoing interest in the export of asbestos, the cause of asbestosis and mesothelioma that is the problem. Asbestos use is banned in most developed countries, as it is for domestic use in Canada.

The World Health Organization, Canadian Medical Association and Canadian Cancer Society have all condemned its use. It is illegal in the European Union and the United States to use asbestos. Government buildings with asbestos used during their construction are slowly being shed of their asbestos, a long and tedious process to bring the buildings to safer status for those who work in them.

Because cancer is a killer, and asbestos is a carcinogen. It's as simple as that. And here's the hitch: Roshi Chadha, the wife of Baljit Singh Chadha, is involved in philanthropy, like her husband. She sits on the board of directors as one of four members-at-large by election, on the 16-person board. She is also, however, an executive of Seja Trade Ltd, a Balcorp subsidiary.

And Balcorp, as it happens is in the forefront of efforts to open a new underground Jeffrey mine. And seeking as well, a $58-million loan guarantee from the Government of Quebec.

A spokesman for the Canadian Red Cross acknowledges that they have received a complaint that points out the conflict between a board director of the Red Cross working for the humanitarian agency at the same time as she works toward the financial interests of a company involved in asbestos extraction and export.

The individual who brought this unsavoury connection to the attention of the Red Cross is someone with intimate knowledge of the destructiveness to human tissues that work with asbestos causes. Her father died of mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos while a young man, working as a labourer and electrician, carrying fibre asbestos on his work clothing.

"We're all extremely hopeful that Red Cross will do the right thing and we are extremely grateful that they're giving it the seriousness that it warrants. With human rights issues, it's very easy to sweep things under the carpet and refuse to deal with them." Kathleen Ruff, awarded the 2011 Rideau Institute Leadership Award in recognition of her lobbying to end Canada's asbestos exportation.

A spokesman for Balcorp, on the other hand, claims that anti-asbestos campaigners ignore ample evidence available on the safe use of asbestos. "We have plenty of studies, people telling us it can be used safely, but they just refuse to recognize (them)." Mostly, because safety in a pristine laboratory setting is not reflected in the casual ignorance used on construction sites in emerging economies.