CANADA: Asbestos regulations: Who is responsible?

CANADA:

Asbestos regulations: Who is responsible?

Date: September 26, 2011

©iStockphoto.com/Heatherfaye

Quebec’s Thetford Mines employs around 350 people in chrysotile asbestos production. Thetford exports almost its entire yield to India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. India alone has purchased more than half of Canada’s output in recent years. Although chrysotile’s disease-causing properties are well-known, Canada, which strictly regulates asbestos use at home, has repeatedly blocked its listing as a hazardous substance under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention. And it has done so amid the World Health Organization’s predictions of a dramatic surge in asbestos-related diseases in Asia.
Who is responsible for these asbestos-related diseases? Is it Thetford Mines? The Canadian public? The federal government? Or is it ultimately the responsibility of Asian governments to enforce better protection of their workers and citizens? Should Canadian companies be allowed to export a disease-causing product which is legal in Asian countries?

See in detail:
http://www.asiapacific.ca/sites/default/files/2_-_canada_and_asbestos_final_v2_sept_6_0.pdf