Asbestos

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

In an open letter released today, over two hundred environmental and health groups, labour unions and scientists from Asia, Africa, North & South America and Europe [including MiningWatch Canada], call on Prime Minister Harper to stop preventing the UN Rotterdam Convention from adding chrysotile asbestos to its list of hazardous substances. Chrysotile asbestos represents 100% of the global asbestos trade.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Quebec's struggling asbestos industry has been left in an increasingly precarious position as two long-time supporters, the Quebec labour council CSN (Conseil des syndicats nationaux) and the Canadian government, began to change their tune.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Since the threat of revival in the Quebec asbestos industry was announced, historically pro-asbestos sentiments in the region have begun to shift.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Québec. A forest in Australia, a cemetery in India? If Quebeckers felt proud to have an Australian forest named after Québec Premier Jean Charest for his actions to address climate change, how would they feel if, one day, a cemetery in India was named after their Premier to commemorate the victims of Québec asbestos?

Thursday, November 25, 2010

(Ottawa) Following Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's kick-off to his pre-budget consultations in Toronto Friday, Canadian environmental organisations released their priority recommendations for the 2011 federal budget, including measures that could save the government well over $800 million per year.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Asbestos is a mineral based fibre that has been widely used all over the world due it its resistance to heat and corrosive chemicals. Typically asbestos appears as a whitish, fibrous material, known as chrysotile asbestos. Asbestos has been used in over 3000 products, everything from brake linings to children's toys. Asbestos has been widely used to fireproof ceilings, walls, tiles, and beams. It has also been used as insulation on pipes, broilers, and has been sprayed on walls. Breathing in asbestos fibres can cause asbestosis and cancer.

Asbestos
Friday, November 28, 2008

E-mail or Fax Prime Minister Harper

This week represents a critical point in the protection of people around the world from the dangers of chrysotile asbestos.

Widely recognised as a carcinogen, the use of chrysotile asbestos is tightly controlled in Canada but it continues to be widely used in the majority (developing) world.

Canada is one of the world's leading exporters of chrysotile asbestos but has little use for it at home. Ninety-six percent of the production from the three operating mines in eastern Québec is exported.

Asbestos
Friday, April 27, 2007

A protest against Canada's continued export of asbestos was held at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on Workers' Memorial Day, Saturday, April 28, 2007. April 28th is the international day of action on work-related injuries and deaths.

Asbestos
Monday, November 13, 2006
by Laurie Kazan-Allen International Ban Asbestos Secretariat The boorish behavior of Canada's representatives at the United Nations meeting in Geneva in October 2006,1 made Canada's imperialistic stance on asbestos clear: Canada will continue to profit from global sales of killer asbestos whilst ...
Asbestos
Sunday, May 21, 2006

MiningWatch Canada, Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers, and three national trade unions charge that asbestos industry claims that “chrysotile asbestos is safe” are not scientifically substantiated. Determined to get the scientific evidence before the public, on May 23rd, we have purchased two pages in the Hill Times to put our case.