ADAO to Livestream the film “Breathtaking”

Image via Wikipedia

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) recognizing the global and negative impact of the Canadian asbestos industry, has partnered with Ontario filmaker Kathleen Mullen, the directer of Breathtaking, to hold a first-ever, international livestreaming of Breathtaking on September 26^th, 2011 at 6:30 pm EST from the ADAO website.  The 45 minute screening will begin with a short introduction from Mullen and conclude with a fifteen minute question and answer session via Twitter with the filmmaker and ADAO President and Co-Founder, Linda Reinstein.
Breathtaking addresses the asbestos industry through a moving and personal investigation into the death of Mullen’s father, and the baffling present-day use, pubic mining, and incessant export of asbestos in spite of decades of scientific evidence that asbestos kills people.   Commercially mined since the Industrial Revolution, asbestos was nicknamed the ‘magic mineral’ for its fabric-like, and fire retardant properties and has been used in everything from brake pads to oven mitts.  Although it has been discovered to be carcinogenic, and asbestos use has been banned in many countries and limited in others.  However, Canada, Russia and several other countries, still mine asbestos and export it for use in developing nations.

Related articles

• Canada Blocks Asbestos's Placement on UN's List of Hazardous Substances (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Doctors ask doctor-MP to stop Canadian asbestos exports (canada.com)
• When did people find out that asbestos caused mesothelioma (wiki.answers.com)
• NYS Education Department Issues Clarification on Asbestos Material Testing (futureenv.blogspot.com)

Summer & Fall 2011 Future Focus Now Available Online

Could This Asbestos Mine Reopen?

Just finished posting the Summer & Fall 2011 Future Focus Newsletter.  We're re-focusing the newsletter to keep it from seeming the same as all the marketing media we do.  We will only publish the newsletter twice per year and the feature article will be more about the future and big picture versus the daily happenings.  You can find our posts and discussions on the daily happenings here in this blog, or our posts on Facebook at Future Environment Designs Training Center, or posts on Linked-In at the New York State Asbestos Group, or you can follow our tweets on Twitter at Angelo Garcia, III.

Related articles

• Daily Show Exposes Asbestos Hypocrisy in Quebec Canada (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Canada Blocks Asbestos's Placement on UN's List of Hazardous Substances (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• First Quebec, Now Zimbabwe (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Quebec Government Decides to Back Loan to Restart Asbestos Mine (futureenv.blogspot.com)

Canada Blocks Asbestos's Placement on UN's List of Hazardous Substances

Kathleen Ruff wrote an excellent piece in the June Newsletter of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) regarding "Canada's Refused to Allow Asbestos to be Put on United Nations List of Hazardous Substances."  Ms. Ruff's article discusses what occurred at the UN Conference in Geneva June 20 to 24, where more than a hundred countries present were on the point of achieving consensus to add chrysotile asbestos to the Rotterdam Convention's list of hazardous substances.  Countries can still export substances on the list, but they must first obtain Prior Informed Consent.

The asbestos lobby has used its political power over the past several years to prevent chrysotile asbestos from being put on the list of hazardous substances, as they deny that chrysotile asbestos is hazardous.  So at the meeting in Geneva, Canada again intervened and would not agree to letting chrysotile asbestos be put on the Convention's list of hazardous substances.  Canada, single-handedly, destroyed consensus and prevented action on chrysotile asbestos.  According to Ms. Ruff, Canada refused to give any reason for its immoral and destructive conduct in sabotaging the Convention.  As a consequence, the asbestos industry can continue selling asbestos to developing countries, without giving any information of its hazards.

Related articles

• Oh Canada: Government Blocks Listing of Asbestos as Hazardous Export While Removing Asbestos From Parliament Buildings (jonathanturley.org)
• Ex-cabinet minister Strahl urges Tories to act on asbestos (globaltvbc.com)
• Asbestos: Canada is spending millions to remove it from politicians' offices while exporting it by the ton. (slate.com)
• Chrysotile Asbestos: Harper Government Defends Carcinogen Despite Rotterdam Pressure (huffingtonpost.ca)
• Canada wins battle to keep asbestos off hazardous list (cbc.ca)
• Daily Show Exposes Asbestos Hypocrisy in Quebec Canada (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Quebec Government Decides to Back Loan to Restart Asbestos Mine (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• First Quebec, Now Zimbabwe (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos Dangers Crop Up In Japan's Disaster (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Controversy Regarding Brodeur's Asbestos Research Information at The New York Public Library. (futureenv.blogspot.com)

Daily Show Exposes Asbestos Hypocrisy in Quebec Canada

Open-pit Mine Asbestos Quebec

As discussed in the May Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) newsletter, the Daily Show did a segment called "Ored to Death" by Herman Hamilton.  The segment is a tongue-in-cheek segment about the reopening of the mine in Asbestos, Quebec.  That is correct as we have discussed here previously the mine in Asbestos Canada that mines chryosilte asbestos is being reopened as a closed-pit mine versus the open-pit mine it used to be.  The asbestos they will be mining will be shipped to India where according to the Bernard Coulombe, executive director of the Jeffrey mine, the people of India are used to pollution and they know how to use it safely.  After seeing the video of the workers in India using the asbestos, we trying to determine if the bandanas they have in that country are HEPA-filtered.  If you love comedy about serious things you will love this video.

Related articles

• Quebec Government Decides to Back Loan to Restart Asbestos Mine (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Does asbestos mean something different in Quebec than it does everywhere else? (scienceblogs.com)
• The City of Asbestos In Canada Talks About the Safety of the Mineral They Mine and Export - Daily Show (Video) (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)
• First Quebec, Now Zimbabwe (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Quebec town of Asbestos mocked on U.S. comedy show (theprovince.com)
• Daily Show mocks Asbestos, Que. (cbc.ca)
• Asbestos industry strikes back at Jon Stewart (ctv.ca)

First Quebec, Now Zimbabwe

Image via WikipediaIn a previous posting we discussed that the Quebec government had decided to back the loan that would reopen the Jeffrey Mine in Asbestos Canada.  This loan would allow the mine to begin mining asbestos again and exporting it to countries like India.  Now in the following article "Zimbabwe in bid to revive asbestos mines" in the English version of the People's Daily Online (China), we find out that Zimbabwe intends on doing the same thing for two of their mines (Shabanie and Mashava).  These mines used to produce about 180,000 tons of asbestos fibers per year.  According to this article, Zimbabwe has been spending millions of dollars on fiber imports from Russia and Brazil.  Seems to me, that Zimbabwe is tired of importing asbestos when they could be mining it.

Related articles

• Quebec Government Decides to Back Loan to Restart Asbestos Mine (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Canada labeled ‘immoral asbestos pusher’ as Harper visits Quebec mining town (theglobeandmail.com)
• Harper rejects export ban on asbestos (canada.com)
• Cancer society 'disappointed' with Quebec asbestos expansion (canada.com)
• Que. hands $7.5M to asbestos mine (cbc.ca)
• Duceppe wades into asbestos mining debate (cbc.ca)
• Air has high asbestos levels at Que. worksites: study (cbc.ca)
• Air at many Quebec worksites high in asbestos levels: study (theglobeandmail.com)

Quebec Government Decides to Back Loan to Restart Asbestos Mine

Image via WikipediaQuebec government announced that it was providing conditional support of the reopening of the Jeffrey Mine Inc in the town of Asbestos through a $58 million loan guarantee.  Economic development minister Clément Gignac also suggested that chrysotile asbestos from that mine could help save lives in India.  Gignac said, the relaunched mine would create 425 full-time jobs in the region plus provide millions of dollars in taxes and royalties to Quebec which in turn will create a $7.5 million economic diversification fund for the region.
To justify the decision, Gignac told reporters that millions of people in India die of cholera every year because they lack access to potable water and proper sanitary infrastructure.  "Excuse me, but the fact is that chrysotile asbestos cement can be used to make many more kilometres of infrastructure because it is less expensive and is a durable material and we can improve the quality of life of citizens in India," he said.

Related articles

• Cancer society 'disappointed' with Quebec asbestos expansion (canada.com)
• Que. hands $7.5M to asbestos mine (cbc.ca)
• Asbestos Expert Demands Canada Retract "Safe Use" Statement (futureenv.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos mine gets $7.5 million from Quebec (canada.com)
• Air has high asbestos levels at Que. worksites: study (cbc.ca)
• In a Town Called Asbestos, a Plan to Restart the Industry That Made It Prosperous (nytimes.com)

Asbestos Expert Demands Canada Retract "Safe Use" Statement

Image via WikipediaLeslie Stayner, an asbestos expert at the University of Illinois's school of public health and a key member of the Canadian Government's expert panel on asbestos is demanding Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis retract recent comments that cited the group's report to promote the "safe use" of asbestos. The expert report, provided to the government in March 2008, was released 13 months later after a long delay under access to information legislation. Paradis, who represents the Quebec town where asbestos is mined, earlier this month told media in Quebec that the government has "adopted a clear position and there have been no new facts since then. Our position remains the same, that of promoting the safe use of asbestos," said Paradis.

However, Leslie Stayner, sent a letter sent to Paradis last week and obtained by Postmedia News, says the comments to the media are a "total misrepresentation" of the expert panel's report, commissioned by Health Canada.  The letter to Paradis, Stayner said the expert panel was never asked to address the question of whether chrysotile asbestos could be used safely.  "Had we been asked this question, I would certainly not have supported the argument that the continued production and use of asbestos in any form, including chrysotile, is safe. It is impossible to believe that developing countries such as India will be able to use chrysotile asbestos in a manner that protects public health when more technically advanced countries like Canada and the United States have failed to do so," Stayner wrote to Paradis.

Visit Canada.com for the full article at: http://www.canada.com/health/Expert+demands+feds+retract+statement+safe+asbestos/4517500/story.html.  It seems Canada (Quebec) is determined to show that chrysotile asbestos should not be regulated and their is a potential safe use for chrysotile asbestos.  We will see if Quebec reopens the Asbestos mine.

Related articles

• Expert demands feds retract statement on 'safe' use of asbestos (canada.com)
• Quebec's asbestos industry could lose union support (ctv.ca)
• Ignatieff fundraiser to be hosted by asbestos supporter (ctv.ca)
• BBC asbestos report slams Canada (cbc.ca)
• Global asbestos trade (bbc.co.uk)
• Asbestos mine backer helped raise cash for federal, Quebec Liberals (canada.com)
• Air at many Quebec worksites high in asbestos levels: study (theglobeandmail.com)
• Duceppe wades into asbestos mining debate (cbc.ca)