Quebec is usually a very progressive province socially, save the language thing of course.
One area that they lag behind in is asbestos, the use and production and mining of. The province is the home to the only asbestos mine operating in Canada, located in Thetford Mines. In Marianne White's bylined story carried by Canwest News Services the word "Shameful" is used by Fernand Turcotte, an emeritus professor of public health at Université Laval, to describe the reality that the governments of Quebec and Canada support an industry that has known cancer causing agents.
In my view what makes it even more egregious is the fact that the stuff mined in Thetford Mines is mostly shipped overseas to countries that are less concerned with issues such as the health and well being of their citizens.
Closer to home Quebec's workers compensation board reports that "Exposure to asbestos is the No. 1 cause of workplace-related deaths for Quebec workers and amounts to about 60 per cent of all such fatalities so far this year..." The stats are fresh. In the first 8 months of this year, 2009, 104 Quebecers died of work related ailments; 61 had asbestos related things such as "...mesothelioma, a cancer of the membrane around the lungs; asbestosis, a respiratory disease; and lung cancer."
The scariest thing for those of us with offices, homes and who spend shopping and social time in La Belle is the fact that they were still using asbestos as a fire retardant and insulation tool in the province until the late stages of the 1970's.
Think about that when you are breathing deeply indoors in Quebec.
WFDS
Thanks for the well written post. A global asbestos ban coupled with increased awareness and research is necessary to end the suffering of current and future victims of asbestos exposure. -Mellissa Hayon, LICSW, www.(dot)mesorc(dot)com
ReplyDelete