Canada Accused of Covering Up Asbestos Report Findings

A British scientist alleges that the Canadian government suppressed the findings of a report he oversaw on chrysotile asbestos to protect the mining industry in Quebec.

Dr. Trevor Ogden, editor of the Annals of Occupational Hygiene and a former top advisor to the British government on the dangers of asbestos, said, “I can only speculate, and my speculation is that there were interests in continuing Canadian production of chrysotile and they saw the report as a threat.”

Dr. Ogden was appointed head of an expert panel organized by Health Canada in 2007 to study the health affects of chrysotile asbestos. The report, which was completed in March of 2008, was only made public last week after the media demanded to view the report under the Access to Information Act. Still, Health Canada will only send out the report if directly contacted. Previously, common practice was to publish the findings on the organization’s website.

It is globally accepted that asbestos is a cause of cancer, specifically, malignant mesothelioma. However, it appears to be a sensitive issue within the Canadian government.  Currently, there is little use of asbestos in Canada and many other nations ban its use because of negative health effects. Still, Quebec exports the mineral to developing countries for building purposes and has spent almost $20 million to market the mineral abroad.

Dr. Ogden says the findings show, “a strong relationship of exposure with lung cancer, but a much less certain relationship with mesothelioma.” It was also reported that chrysotile asbestos often contains trace amounts of a more dangerous form of asbestos, tremolite. Finally, the report stated that those who worked directly with asbestos were at a must higher risk of contracting a related disease than those who mined the mineral.

Health Canada says there was a delay in the release of the findings because the organization wanted to review them first. In a statement, Health Canada said it, “sought the advice of leading international scientists on the risks posed by chrysotile asbestos so that it could better understand the scientific debate. No other country has encouraged such a debate amongst scientists with widely varying opinions.”

Source:  http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Federal-Politics/2009/04/30/AsbestosExport/