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The Politics of Asbestos:
Canada’s Shame
February 13, 2012Cathy Walker
Former H&S Director, CAW
SPPH 534
Asbestos: Killer Dust
We’ve known about the hazards of asbestos since the First Century
Pliny the Elder reported on Roman slaves having sickened lungs from weaving asbestos into cloth
Charlemagne used asbestos napkins, 800 AD
He threw soiled napkins into the fire and they came out clean
Insurance companies stopped issuing life insurance to asbestos workers
Cape Asbestos plant in London, England, 1910
Asbestos insulation sprayers, 1960s and 70s
Union went to Dr. Irving Selikoff: New York and New Jersey asbestos sprayers
Selikoff Examined 1,117 asbestos insulation workers
More than 50% already had asbestosis determined by X-Rays
For those exposed more than 20 years, 339 of 392 (87%) had asbestosis
Lung cancers were 7 times the expected rate
Gastrointestinal cancers were 3 times the expected rate
Asbestos stopped being used as sprayed on insulation, halfway through building the World Trade Centre buildings
But of course there was still lots of asbestos in the September 11, 2001 dust
Do you have to be covered in dust to die from asbestos? The answer is “no”
Professors CAUT employed at the University of Manitoba have died from asbestos exposure
Where is asbestos in your community?
If you don’t know, find out
Where is asbestos likely to be found?
In this workplace it’s in the cladding around the building.
But it can be almost anywhere
Around beams
Ceilings (used for noise as well as fire insulation)
In insulation
Deteriorated insulation
Around Boilers
Around Pipes
Asbestos Cement
In Ceiling Tiles Canadian school, 2002
In floor tiles
When asbestos deteriorates it becomes “friable” (crumbly)
What is asbestos?
It is a “natural” fibre found in the ground
It is mined and processed and used to be used in a wide variety of products
Two main Asbestos groups
Amphiboles (straight fibres)
Serpentine (curly fibres)
There’s not really a lot of difference
Amphiboles Crocidolite Amosite
Serpentine Chrysotile: 95% of world asbestos Includes Canadian
asbestos:
Excellent Insulation
It is a nearly perfect product for insulation
It is fireproof and virtually indestructible
Great for brake pads and many other products
Indestructible everywhere
These indestructible asbestos fibres stay in your lungs forever
So how do we protect people?
Work closely with health and safety committee members
Skilled trades workers are often most at risk
They have to work in asbestos-containing areas
So they need to know where the asbestos is
We have banned the use of asbestos in major collective agreements
We now have to bargain its safe, effective removal
Work refusals lead to action on asbestos
At airports throughout Canada CAW members exercised their right to refuse
unsafe work under the Canada Labour Code Through the courage of these women union
members, they protected themselves, their fellow workers and the public
Is there a map and is asbestos identified clearly?
Each place where asbestos is found must have a clear label
There should be a map of where asbestos is found in each workplace
But we can’t always trust this information If people are working on the ceiling of your
work area and dust is falling and you are unsure, insist it be analyzed for asbestos
Insist on asbestos removal by knowledgeable firms and workers
Proper Asbestos Removal Complete enclosure
of the asbestos removal area by sealed plastic
Only trained asbestos removal workers to be in the asbestos removal area
Negative pressure in removal area so no asbestos fibres escape
B.C. Contractor sentenced to 60 days in jail, Jan 24, 2012
Exposed unprotected workers, many of them teenagers
(2009, 44% of all work-related deaths in B.C. due to asbestos)
Labour’s Response:
“An important message is being sent today that if you willfully expose your employees to known carcinogens, you will end up in jail,” said BC Federation of Labour President, Jim Sinclair.
“It is a pretty rare opportunity to see an employer actually go to jail for what he is doing,”…“These workers face a potential death sentence from cancer, and Arthur Moore will walk free in two months. That’s totally wrong.” Lee Loftus, BC & Yukon Building Trades Council Pres.
What about encapsulation (covering the asbestos)?
Eventually, all asbestos will become friable
Every time it is disturbed, it gets into the air
Remove it competently and the problem is solved
If the building is going to be torn down in the near future, crumbly asbestos can be encapsulated
Asbestos continues to killFrancis Huggett: $102,450 plus pension; rep Karen Willsey
Closed in 1988,legacy of death lives on.
Holmes Foundry Claims
Total Lump Sum
$0
$2,000,000
$4,000,000
$6,000,000
$8,000,000
$10,000,000
$12,000,000
$14,000,000
$16,000,000
$18,000,000
$20,000,000
2000-01-01 2001-01-01 2002-01-01 2003-01-01 2004-01-01
But what about Canada’s export of asbestos?
The Chrysotile Asbestos Institute promotes chrysotile asbestos as “safe”
Where is our asbestos used in developing countries?
CBC News Special ReportFebruary 2, 2012
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/02/01/asbestos-study-mcgill.html
“It is still commonly used in developing countries like India and Vietnam. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 107,000 people
die annually from asbestos exposure worldwide Ken Takahashi, an epidemiologist affiliated with WHO, recently said that
“asbestos tsunami” of deaths is going to hit Asia because of the continued use of the product there.”
Asbestos worker, India:
Conservatives back asbestos export, CBC report
Two Conservative members of parliament stood up in the House of Commons in the past year to say that chrysotile can be safely handled based on studies, some of which come out of McGill:
“Mr. Speaker, scientific reviews show that chrysotile fibres can be used safely in a controlled environment at the national or international level." — Christian Paradis, federal Minister of Industry and Quebec MP, House of Commons, Nov. 23, 2011.
“All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely in controlled conditions.” — Joe Oliver, Ontario MP, House of Commons, June 20, 2011.
During the federal election campaign last April, Prime Minister Stephen Harper went to the asbestos region in Quebec and talked about the industry.
“Canada is one of a number of exporters of chrysotile and there are a number of countries in which it is legal who are buyers. This government will not put Canadian industry in a position where it is discriminated against in a market where it is permitted.”
Everybody needs clean water, right?
But these pipes deteriorate and break, releasing asbestos
And usually we export only raw asbestos so someone had to mix the asbestos and the cement, usually by hand
And asbestos is used in roofs of houses and huts where it crumbles directly onto the people who live there
Where is this asbestos roof?
Asbestos bags leak
Brazilian worker breaking open asbestos bags
Asbestos use in Peru: half is from Canada
Canadian asbestos in Peru
7
Working with Asbestos in Peru
Funeral: Asbestos Deaths in Peru
These next pictures are from Pakistan
From a presentation by Laurie Kazan-Allen from the UK with photos from Noor Jehan of Pakistan
Assistant Professor Noor Jehan standing with a worker beside an asbestos dump at the Asbestos, Talc and Clay Crushing unit in Mohmand Agency, Pakistan.
Asbestos sheet cutting unit in Mardan City (NWFP) located on the main road in a residential area.
Inside this building is a flour mill; while outside is an asbestos crushing machine and an asbestos dump. The man in the picture has worked for 8 years on this machine and was not convinced of any hazard related to asbestos inhalation or its mixing with flour produced inside the building.
Asbestos Use in India
How little protection there is in developing countries for either workers or for the general population.
Ahmedabad, Gujarat India
Manager of an asbestos factory: “Our factory is so safe that our workers do not need to wear masks.”
The factory has received an ISO 9002 rating from a British company.
Broken asbestos pieces are used to fill up areas as driveways where vehicles enter the distribution area.
There is a water spray on the blade of the circular saw but the worker’s hair is white with asbestos.
Protesting against asbestos factory in Bihar:students told their farmer parents of hazards
Canadian News: Finally! http://watch.ctv.ca/news/top-picks/asbest
os-basics/#clip190469 Dr. Jim Brophy, long-time health & safety
activist
CBC News: Melissa Fung in India
The National: Canada’s Ugly Secret, by Melissa Fung, June 10, 2009, runs 15.14
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/healtheducation/canadas_ugly_secret.html
China produces its own asbestos Conclusions from important new report. http://www.pcfb.org.hk/research/pdf/Reportprofwangabs.pdf The data from the 37-yr prospective cohort of asbestos workers and 26-yr
historical cohort of asbestos miners provided consistent results, showing substantially excessive cause-specific mortality, in particular for lung cancer and respiratory diseases, in asbestos exposed workers/miners.
The study provides additionally strong and valuable evidence for the association between mortality of lung cancer (and all cancers and non-malignant respiratory diseases) and exposure to chrysotile asbestos.
Why does Canada support the production of asbestos?
Isn’t is unconscionable? How can our federal government oppose
asbestos bans in other countries, including bringing a complaint against the French asbestos ban to the WTO?
To understand the position of the federal government, you have to understand the history of the union movement in Québec
Who are these people?
Baljit and Roshi Chadha
Roshi Chadha Mrs. Roshi Chadha is a member of the
Board of Governors of the Canadian Red Cross Association
A member of the Board of Directors of McGill University Health Centre
Since 1981, an executive of Seja Trade Ltd., a Montreal company that has for years been exporting asbestos from the open-pit Jeffrey asbestos mine in Quebec to India
Baljit Chadha
Mr. Baljit Chadha is seeking to revive the dying but not yet dead, Quebec asbestos industry
is lobbying the Quebec government for a $58 million loan guarantee in order to open a new underground Jeffrey mine
which would export of millions of tonnes of asbestos to Asia for the next 25 to 50 years
Québec, mining asbestos since 1879
No protection in the early days, King mine 1896
Women also had no protection, 1930 Johnson mine
Yet in 1911, insurance companies stopped insuring asbestos workers
Because they were dying of asbestosis and cancer
This is a recent asbestos miner showing his X-Ray
In Asbestos and in Thetford Mines the towns were adjacent to the mines and tailings. St.-Maurice parish, 1950
1949, Premier Maurice Duplessis ruled Québec
Le drapeau fleurdelisé, adopté par Maurice Duplessis le 21 janvier 1948
Duplessis, nationalist or imposter?
Fascist or statesman?
In 1949, miners in Quebec were prepared to fight back
Miners in Asbestos and Thetford Mines fought back
Against the U.S. corporation, Johns Manville
Against the Roman Catholic Church And especially, against Maurice
Duplessis They fought for four months The issues were wages, but especially,
working conditions, protection from the killer dust, asbestos
Asbestos StrikeQuébec, 1949
Asbestos Strike, 1949Who was there?
Jean Marchand, union leader Gérard Pelletier, journalist with Le Devoir
1949 - 1951, conseiller au Conseil privé
What did the workers think?
Globe and Mail, headline, Oct. 2, 2000: “Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1919-2000, Still a
hero in Québec after all these years” Rosaire Drouin, miner, speaking of Trudeau,
“He was sort of the ambassador for the union. He explained to us our rights against Duplessis." “
“He defended the workers. He was good for Québec and Canada. It's a long time since we've seen a good one like that."
Duplessis sent Archbishop Charbonneau to BC because he supported the strikers
1949’s legacy remains.Debating anti-scab legislation in Parliament, October 21, 2003:
Mr. André Bachand (Richmond—Arthabaska, PC) “I am from Asbestos.”… “The scabs were the main problem during
the strike of 1949 in Asbestos. I am not going to call them “strikebreakers” or “replacement workers”; they were scabs. There were fights, and the provincial police were there.”
Québec sovereignty movementQuiet Revolution really began in 1949 with the Asbestos Strike
Québec miners 1975 As you can hear in this CBC Radio clip, patients
suffering from asbestos-related illnesses experience shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and persistent coughing often excreting blood:
CBC Radio clip: 1975, Thetford Mines, Paul Brodeur, etc. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-608-3400/science_technology/asbestos/clip2
Miners still striking in the ‘70s over working conditions
Québec mines cleaned up considerably after the PQ nationalized the mines
Excellent ventilation
Protective measures
Still a risk at work, but not an enormous one as before
Tailings are still thereThetford Mines, 2002
Just Transition Needed
Relocation assistance for miners and residents
Retraining for workers Income continuity Pensions
These countries all have some form of asbestos ban:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil (4 states), Chile, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay
Call for asbestos export ban The Canadian Medical Association, the
Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Public Health Association, the Quebec government’s own sixteen Directors of Public Health, as well as numerous other medical authorities, have strongly and unanimously called for the export of asbestos to end and have opposed the re-opening of the Jeffrey mine, saying that asbestos from the mine would lead to loss of life.
How can we export death to the third world?
Chrysotile asbestos – it looks so innocent, but it’s so deadly
Canada Day, July 1, 2009English unionists ride against Canadian asbestos
It is appalling that this litany of death be allowed to continue
I call on all of you with as much sincerity as I can muster
Keep the pressure on the Canadian government!
Don’t let us continue to mine and export asbestos, killer dust!
Ban Asbestos!
I salute each and every one of you who has ever carried a sign like this:
It remains for Canada to end its contribution to an epidemic that it initiated and has promoted for over a hundred years Canadian Journal of Public Health, 2011, Vol. 102, 1. Re: Paradis G. Ban All Production and Export of Chrysotile Asbestos [Editor’s Page]. Can J Public Health 2010;101(5):352.
Dear Editor:
Your organization [Canadian Public Health Association, publisher of CJPH], the Canadian Cancer Society and the Canadian Medical Association are to be commended for having aligned themselves with the United Nations agencies and the European Union in their call for the elimination of the use and exportation of asbestos, and for the proper management of asbestos that has been used, including remediation. It remains for Canada to end its contribution to an epidemic that it initiated and has promoted for over a hundred years. Many millions of dollars have been spent on Canadian institutions that regularly reported to the effect: “...à part ça, madame la Marquise, Tout va très bien, tout va très bien”. Denial was the Canadian stance as early as 1912(1) and it continues to this day to be the stock in trade of its public relations lobbyists. Inquiries into the adverse effects of chrysotile by the Province of Quebec in 1976 and by the Ontario Royal Commission in 1984 were effective public relations exercises in that they did not provoke an outcry or impair exports.
It remains for Canada to end its contribution to an epidemic that it initiated and has promoted for over a hundred years (cont’d)
Claims for there being honest intellectual doubt about the need to operate a worldwide ban were being made by the CMA as late as 2001 when its Journal debated: ‘Should Canadian health care professionals call for a worldwide ban on asbestos?’ Despite the authoritative opinions of the UN and the EU, the CMA expressed the need for a panel of experts with no “significant experience or interest in asbestos research” [sic] to review the public health implications of asbestos and the efficacy and the hazards of alternative materials. A case could be made for Canada making amends by establishing a Truth Commission serviced by a prestigious ‘panel of experts’. Its remit would be to review all the factors that allowed the continued production of asbestos for over one hundred years, in the face of accumulating evidence. Such a body could determine the lessons to be learned from the asbestos epidemic and provide guidance on how not to repeat history. Morris Greenberg, MB, FRCP, FFOM. London, England REFERENCE 1. Department of Labour. Labour Gazette. February 12, 1912. Letter.