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“All recent scientific studies show that chrysotile fibres, the only asbestos fibre that is produced and exported from Canada, can be used safely under controlled conditions,”
said Christian Paradis, environment minister in Canada’s conservative government.
Whilst the UK and the European Member States have striven over the last 10 years to ban and withdraw asbestos products from the market the producer states have turned to new markets and, we are seeing increasing amounts of asbestos being exported to the developing world as the producer states strive to maintain their industrial base.
In 2009, Canada sent nearly 153,000 tonnes of chrysotile – or white asbestos – abroad. More than half went to India; the rest went to Indonesia, Thailand, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates.
At home in Canada, it is a different story: Canada used only 6,000 tonnes in 2006, the last year for which data is available. Well, 6,000 tonnes is still a substantial amount of the hazardous material to use in their own country but that is a mere fraction of the tonnage being shipped out to developing lands.
In the developing world, demand for cheap building materials is brisk. More than two million tonnes of asbestos were mined worldwide in 2009 – much of it to be turned into asbestos cement, which is durable, fireproof and cheap, for corrugated roofing and water pipes. More than half was exported. I'm trying to visualise what two million tonnes would actually look like if it was in a single pile ???
Behind the industry’s growth in these countries is a marketing campaign involving a diverse set of companies, organised under a dozen trade associations and institutes. This campaign is co-ordinated, in part, by the Chrysotile Institute, a government-backed group in Montreal, which has an office in a smart office block in downtown Montreal.
Poverty and ecomic situation in the developing world tends to encourage that these cheap building materials get used by many folks around the world who may not understand the hazards and work them in very primative and hazardous conditions often cutting through the material without any, if at all, safety precautions or breathing protection etc.
Ed.
