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.