There is one asbestos mine left in North America, in the town of Thetford Mine located in Quebec. Keeping it open has become a cause célèbre among some Canadian politicians, presumably because there are about 400 people employed there. Ottawa, a Canadian province with no commercial asbestos mining in its territory, has reinforced its support for asbestos mining and use by helping to fund a Canadian pro-asbestos organization called the Chrysotile Institute.
The institute is dedicated to debunking the myth that any asbestos exposure is dangerous. They engage in lobbying efforts and in an ongoing public relations campaign based on two assumptions: that chrysotile asbestos is less harmful than other forms of asbestos, and that careful control of industrial environments can reduce the risk of exposure to acceptable limits.
All of Quebec’s asbestos ore is exported, because in Canada there is no longer any substantial use of asbestos in industrial or commercial products. The Chrysotile Institute makes much of the fact that the world’s asbestos mining concerns have agreed not to sell their ore to asbestos product manufacturers who do not meet certain safety considerations.
They don’t police these agreements, nor do they speak to the continuing diagnoses of mesothelioma in Canadians and in many workers in developing nations who know nothing of contractual agreements. Industrial safety in many developing countries is rudimentary; probably incapable of managing the release of pollutants into the air in industrial sites. The nautical salvage yards ships in India and Pakistan have developed international notoriety for the workplace exposure that occurs daily when old ships are being dismantled.
While the perception of asbestos in Canada is different among some groups, notably the Quebecois, some residents of the country feel that spending tax dollars to support an asbestos promotion organization may be a misdirected allocation of funds. The Chrysotile Institute has received $20 million in government funding since 1984.
The Institute’s press releases and public commentary haven’t slowed the development of asbestosis and asbestos cancer among workers who were exposed to chrysotile asbestos during the 1960s and 1970s in shipyards, steel mills and refractories. Nor has their advocacy slowed the asbestos litigation in Canadian courts, suits filed by Canadian nationals whose health has been ruined by asbestos exposure.
