Anti-Asbestos Agencies Join Together to Urge a Ban on Asbestos

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and the Canadian Voices of Asbestos Victims have come together to write and release a document they are calling “The North American Declaration to Eliminate Asbestos-Related Diseases.” The first collaboration between the two organizations, the document unifies the organizations’ demands and urges those in charge to heed the warnings of the scientific community and back a ban on the import and export of asbestos materials.

According to a press release by the ADAO, the document will be delivered in February 2012 to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama, explaining the position of the World Health Organization in regards to the hazards of asbestos and urging them to take action to prohibit its use. Asbestos kills approximately 107,000 workers worldwide each year. It has been a known carcinogen for decades and causes a serious and aggressive cancer known as mesothelioma.

Canada – in particular, the province of Quebec – remains one of the top miners and exporters of asbestos materials, despite the findings that the mineral is deadly. Currently, all mines in Quebec are shut down but a decision is expected soon as to whether or not the Canadian government will provide the financial support necessary to re-open the mines.

Linda Reinstein, co-founder of the ADAO, notes that she finds the use and import/export of asbestos deplorable since there are so many safer alternatives available. As a mesothelioma widow, Reinstein adds that she finds it amazing that the U.S. continues to deny decades of scientific evidence that confirms the carcinogenic properties of asbestos.

Stacy Cattran, co-found of Canadian Voices, lost her father to asbestos cancer. A laborer and electrician at a petro-chemical plant in Sarnia, Ontario, Cattran’s father was one of many in his town that succumbed to the hazards of working with asbestos, which was widely used inside chemical plants for most of the 20th century.

“After 130 years of mining asbestos, it is time for Canada to close the mines and transition the workers to other forms of industry,” Cattran said. “We must take steps now which will prohibit Canada from ongoing export of asbestos to the developing world, where it is exposing millions of workers to the same life-threatening hazards as my father experienced.”