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Last up dated March 22, 2012
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Disclaimer
In 2008, the United Steel Workers Union (Local 480) created a short documentary highlighting the devastating impacts of exposure to asbestos, through victim testimonials. It includes clips of then NDP Labour Critic Chuck Puchmayr, making a Private Members’ statement on Workers Rights in the BC Legislature. Please take a moment to download and watch this short documentary.
Asbestos-caused industrial disease is BC’s number one occupational killer. The negative effects of exposure to asbestos are not noticeable until 15 to 40 years after exposure. However, in 2002 Legislation was passed in BC by the Campbell Liberals such that no one over the age of 65 would receive a disability award for a work-related disease or injury.
We endeavour to provide links to beneficial information related to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. However, the links to graphics, videos and audio files listed below are provided as resource information only. We have not vetted this information, nor do we endorse the opinions expressed. Please properly vet all information that you obtain online and read all website disclaimers. For any medical advice, consult your family physician or medical specialists.
Request for Video and Audio Links
WorkSafeBC is dedicated to promoting workplace health and safety for the workers and employers of this province. This 2 minute video warns of the dangers of asbestos during renovation and demolition work, and explains how asbestos fibres can enter the lungs and cause permanent damage.
WorkSafeBC Graphics 2010
Asbestosis / Mesothelioma #1 in Construction Industry Fatalities ~ This WorkSafeBC graphic shows the causes of worker fatalities in the construction industry from 1996 to 2005. It indicates that 47% of of these fatalities were due to asbestosis/mesothelioma. The number of asbestosis/mesothelioma deaths has continued to rise since 2005.
LINK: WorkSafeBC Graphic — Hazards Can Kill You
Asbestos Hazards when Renovating Older Homes ~ This WorkSafeBC poster includes information such as who to contact for information on preventing exposure to asbestos when doing home renovations; the hazards of asbestos; who you can find qualified help; a graphic that indicates products may contain asbestos; etc.
LINK: WorkSafeBC Info Poster — Asbestos Hazards when Renovating Older Homes
CBC’s website has three great videos related to Mellissa Fung’s investigation of Canada’s asbestos industry.
Quebec Asbestos Mine News Clip - “The Canadian Cancer Society is urging the Quebec government not to invest in reviving one of the country’s last asbestos mines.”
Canada's Ugly Secret Documentary - “Mellissa Fung reports on how Canada’s overseas asbestos sales may be breathing new life into a dying industry - but may also be making exposed workers sick.”
Asbestos Concerns Follow-up - “Mellissa Fung reports what happened in Parliament the day following her June 10, 2009 report on overseas sales of asbestos, ‘Canada’s Ugly Secret’.”
This topic from CBC’s Digital Archives spans from 1942 to 2002; it includes 8 TV clips and 7 radio clips.
“The needle-like fibres seemed like nature's perfect gift. Fireproof, indestructible and cheap, from the 1940s to the 1970s, asbestos was everywhere. It was woven into clothes, used to insulate buildings and even mixed with water as children's play dough. That was before studies linked asbestos dust with cancer and lung disease. Authorities now say asbestos, when handled properly, poses little risk. But nagging concerns, highlighted by the plight of the asbestos miners, have resulted in a shrivelling industry.”
Toronto-based filmmaker Kathleen Mullen’s latest documentary film, Breathtaking, investigates the Canadian asbestos industry and the Canadian government’s refusal to stop mining and exporting asbestos. While it’s a documentary about the asbestos industry, it’s also a tribute to her father, Richard Mullen, who died of mesothelioma (a terminal cancer caused by asbestos exposure) in 2003.
This audio file is of interviews with Canadians whose lives have been devastated by exposure to chrysotile asbestos, including former MP Chuck Strahl.
“Some mornings set themselves apart from any other. Anyone who's lived one will never forget the feeling of waking up with what feels like a sick, weight in the pit of their stomachs on the day their doctor will reveal whether they have tested positive for a devastating illness. Today we share the story of one of those mornings for someone we met this week, Heidi Von Palleske. And we talk to former Conservative MP Chuck Strahl about his battle with an asbestos-related cancer and his decision to part with the Conservative Government.”
Listen to the Current’s documentary about a family that has been devastated by the effects of asbestos. Only Dad worked around asbestos, but what he didn't know was that every day, he came home with little bits of asbestos clinging to his clothes. The Current also talks to a doctor who treats people with cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
“Michaela Kaiserlingk is a 72-year-old widow whose life changed forever when her husband got sick with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer caused by asbestos exposure. His death turned her into a fervent activist, and she now spends her retirement trying to convince Ottawa to ban the export of asbestos overseas. She argues that if the mineral is too dangerous to use in Canada, we shouldn't be exporting it to developing countries such as India.”
“Over 95% of the chrysotile asbestos fiber mined worldwide is mixed with cement to form roofing, siding, pipes and many more products. These products have been used for decades throughout the world, but due to bans on their use in many countries they are now marketed primarily in developing countries. The following table shows where chrysotile asbestos fiber is currently mined and where it is consumed to be turned into products and installed. Note that the producing countries are not necessarily the users of the fiber they mine.”
“Asbestos illness in India is under-diagnosed and mostly unrecognised as a health problem. But with the proliferation of factories making and using asbestos products and an import trade in asbestos building products booming, India has become a new frontier for what’s sure to be a dramatic, devastating health crisis. . . Canada won’t use asbestos itself but it is selling it by the shipload to India.”
Interview with Stacy Cattran about Roshi Chadha, a Canadian Red Cross board member. Roshi Chadha is an active asbestos trader in her own right and although the last two asbestos mines in Canada are bankrupt and shutdown, Roshi and Baljit Chadha are trying to re-start it.
Video Clip - Superb lead item on Montreal CBC News on how asbestos victims are challenging asbestos exporter Roshi Chadha and calling for her to be removed from the board of McGill University and St Mary’s Hospital, a teaching hospital affiliated with McGill.
The story is in the first few minutes of the half hour news show.
A documentary on CBC Television's The National on Thursday detailed how an institute set up by the Quebec Asbestos Mining Association paid professor John Corbett McDonald and other researchers at Montreal's McGill University at least $1 million between 1966 and 1972 for research on the health impacts of chrysotile asbestos. . . . The documentary suggests the questionable research is still being used by the industry and the federal and Quebec governments to justify Canada's continued involvement in asbestos production and export.
Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital has a screening program that utilizes CT scans to monitor the lung health of workers who have been exposed to asbestos. The tiny fibres get lodged in the lungs causing deadly diseases that typically take 20 to 40 years to show up. It is the only screening program of its kind in North America; they are looking for mesothelioma a painful, terminal cancer that forms in the lining of the lungs. The deadly damage caused by asbestos has not yet peaked; there are about 400 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed in Canada every year.
Most mechanics contacted by CBC News believed that asbestos was already banned from brake pads years ago. But figures from Statistics Canada show that more than $2.6 million worth of asbestos brake pads entered the country in 2011. An Ontario MPP will table a bill this week that if passed would be the first in Canada to block imports of asbestos brake pads from entering the Canadian market.
Asbestos in Brake Pads Causes a Deadly Environment for Mechanics CBC News Mar 20, 2012
