Quebec Government Holding onto Health Report
For eight months, the Quebec government has been holding on to a report looking into the link between asbestos-related cancer and Canada’s only community that still mines the substance. The Canadian Press reports the study is believed to be the first Canadian research to look at asbestos-related cancer in a specific region, examining the risk of disease in and around Thetford Mines, Quebec.
Quebec‘s public health institute delivered the completed report to regional officials and the provincial Health Department in March. The study, and its potentially alarming conclusions has not, as yet, been made public but officials say it will be this month (December 09).
The mining of asbestos is an intensely sensitive issue in Quebec, where it provides around 400 jobs at the province’s one remaining mine. The industry fiercely defends Quebec asbestos — also called chrysotile — and labels the product perfectly safe as long as precautions are followed.
The provincial government, the Bloc Quebecois and the federal Conservatives all support the asbestos industry’s claims that the product can be used safely. In 2008, Canada’s $100-million asbestos industry exported 175,000 ton of chrysotile — almost all of it to developing nations.
The material, recognized for its heat- and fire-resistant qualities, was widely used in Canada and around the world between the 1950s and the ’70s, often as insulation. Several countries, especially poorer ones, still import asbestos from Canada despite numerous studies linking it to health hazards, including cancer.
Cases of such illness appear to be increasing. Mesothelioma, a lethal cancer linked to asbestos in over 80% of cases, killed 32% more Canadians in 2005 than in 2000, according to Statistics Canada’s the most recent national figures.
In Canada, asbestos-related diseases are the number one workplace killer, striking not only retired miners, but also former ship builders and constructions workers. Across Canada, the number of reported new cases annually of mesothelioma shot up 67% in one and one-half decades — from 276 to 461. (workersxzcompxzkit)
Since it takes 25 to 40 years after exposure for many asbestos-related diseases to surface, experts predict the death toll will continue to climb for years as Canada experiences the lingering effects of its asbestos boom.
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