More than 800 tons of asbestos from Russia were dumped eight months ago at the Mexican Gulf coast port of Veracruz and represents a health risk for the population, the Reforma newspaper reported Saturday. Faced with that situation, the transporter dumped the asbestos in the port’s Supply Center loading zone, located on the Veracruz-Xalapa highway, in a populated area, the paper said. Reforma said the material is being handled with little protection by the Center’s workers and remains outdoors, with its packing deteriorating and with no measures being taken to avoid its fibers drifting into the air.
Media Links 2013
Last up dated July 14, 2013
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Disclaimer
We endeavour to provide links to beneficial information related to mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases. However, the links to stories in the media listed below are provided as resource information only; this is only a handful of asbestos-related media stories. We have not vetted information in these stories, 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.
On January 16, 2013, Kathleen Ruff of RightOnCanada had the privilege of making a presentation on asbestos to a group of medical doctors and interns at the University of Tehran Medical Sciences centre. The medical community in Iran is well aware of the health hazards posed by asbestos and have made significant progress in stopping its use. They are hopeful that asbestos will, at some point soon, be banned.
A European Parliament committee approved a report calling for a crackdown on asbestos remaining in buildings, and to raise awareness of the effort and to achieve a global ban on asbestos.
Excellent 3 minute video report.
The 2013 Late lessons from early warnings report is the second of its type produced by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in collaboration with a broad range of external authors and peer reviewers. The case studies across both volumes of Late lessons from early warnings cover a diverse range of chemical and technological innovations, and highlight a number of systemic problems. The 'Late Lessons Project' illustrates how damaging and costly the misuse or neglect of the precautionary principle can be, using case studies and a synthesis of the lessons to be learned and applied to maximising innovations whilst minimising harms.
A Quebec environmental group, la Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP), is hoping in the coming weeks to finalize the constitution of a Quebec asbestos victims organisation, which will assist victims obtain compensation. Three major articles in today’s Montreal La Presse newspaper recount the difficulties faced by asbestos victims in Quebec and how they are often denied compensation by the Quebec Occupational Health & Safety Commission (CSST).
Does asbestos corrupt more than just DNA? That is the question now being asked of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) after a series of recent decisions triggered a storm of protest from governments, non-governmental organisations, and health campaigners and left the agency, which is an arm of WHO, open to accusations. The protest erupted late last year, when IARC accepted an invitation to send one of its scientists, to present data at a conference in Kiev, Ukraine, imploring IARC to shun the conference over suspicions that the organisers were in cahoots with the Russian asbestos industry.
In a Joint Statement, released on February 19, 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) state that all forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans and that the most efficient way to eliminate asbestos-related diseases is to stop the use of all forms of asbestos.
A World Health Organization agency is denying allegations published in a leading medical journal that it has fallen under the influence of the Russian asbestos industry, which is resisting tighter controls on the carcinogenic mineral.
On February 22, 2013, one hundred and forty-three scientists and organisations from thirty countries released a statement condemning the dangerous misinformation that the International Chrysotile Association is disseminating in its effort to defeat a proposed ban on asbestos in Pakistan.
Select link above to see a letter from Chairman of the International Chrysotile Association (ICA), a lobby organisation that represents the global asbestos industry. The ICA is seeking to prevent Pakistan from banning asbestos. The letter cites scientists, such as David Bernstein, whose research has been financed by the asbestos industry and has zero credibility in the reputable scientific community.
In the past few years, McGill has received internal and external criticism on some of the research projects conducted within the Roddick gates, including military and pharmceutical research. But what happens when research that was conducted 40 years ago comes into question? That is exactly what has happened with John Corbett McDonald— former McGill professor of oncology—and his research on chrysotile asbestos. This month marks one year since the release of CBC reporter Terrence McKenna’s provocative documentary on asbestos research at McGill. The Tribune has set out to recapitulate the controversy surrounding this research over the past year, and to look forward to the year ahead.
Since the beginning of 2010, Work-SafeBC has issued nearly 2,500 orders - the majority of them in the Lower Mainland - against construction companies that violated regulations designed to protect workers from exposure to asbestos. WorkSafeBC has been on a push to ferret out bad actors and created a special team of officers to inspect job sites in the Lower Mainland where asbestos was being removed.
Clayton Fernie was a martial artist with a zest for life who died a “hard, horrible” death in 2010 from an asbestos-related disease (mesothelioma), wasting away in front of his family’s eyes. His brother, Derrick Fernie, a self-styled asbestos activist since his brother’s death, said BC needs to get much tougher on bad operators in the asbestos removal business. He says criminal charges must be pursued under Bill C-45, which amended the Criminal Code to beef up worker protection after the deadly Westray Mine disaster.
A private member’s bill that would make it mandatory to report asbestos in public buildings received the unanimous support of lawmakers in Saskatchewan during second reading in March 2013. The asbestos right-to-know-act, also known as Howard’s Law, would require all government-owned buildings, health care facilities and schools with asbestos to be listed online with details of the containment in each building.
The bill is named after Howard Willems, a long-time building inspector who died last November after a long battle with mesothelioma, a rare form of asbestos-related cancer.
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-Saskatchewan backs mandatory asbestos registry for public buildings - Mar 14, 2013
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-Advocate for asbestos registry honoured nationally - Mar 11, 2013
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-Groups say voluntary asbestos registry not enough; petition for mandatory list - Feb 28, 2013
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-Government public buildings containing asbestos in Saskatchewan made public - Nov 13, 2012
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-Man who pushed for asbestos registry for Saskatchewan public buildings dies - Nov 9, 2012
Howard’s Law - Mandatory asbestos registry for public buildings in Saskatchewan
The Harper’s government fondness for the cancer-causing chrysotile asbestos industry seems to have run its course. As part of Thursday’s budget, Ottawa will send $50 million over the next seven years to help the commmunities of Thetford Mines and Asbestos, Quebec diversify their economies away from exploiting the dangerous mineral. Canada has taken heat for keeping its asbestos industry alive and shipping exports to countries like India, an effort that requires federal and provincial subsidies.
If the asbestos industry in Canada was on life-support, last week's federal budget finally pulled the plug. It was hidden midway through the budget papers, amid the more flashy and noticeable cuts to the cost of baby clothes and the "largest long-term federal commitment to Canadian infrastructure in our nation's history."
"Supporting the Economic Transition of Communities Economically Linked to the Chrysotile Asbestos Industry," said the headline on page 241.
According to Industry Canada, the value of Canada’s raw asbestos exports has dropped 94 per cent between 1990 and 2011. Exports alone were worth $645-million in 1990 and fell to $41-million in 2011.
This article contains a link to an interactive graphic showing the decline of Canada’s asbestos exports.
The Quebec Minister of Health, Réjean Hébert, stated that the new Quebec government of Pauline Marois is preparing to ban the use of asbestos. The new government recently took a position against the mining, export and use of asbestos by revoking the $58 million loan guarantee that the former government promised to keep the Quebec mines operational.
The Quebec asbestos lobby is asking for an urgent meeting with the minister, saying that the use of asbestos-containing products, such as asbestos-cement construction materials, should be encouraged and that asbestos can be safely used. Public opinion in Quebec is no longer on their side.
Will the Quebec government ban asbestos?
On April 1, the Minister of Health of Peru, Midori de Habich, signed a bill to ban asbestos and submitted it to President Ollanta Humala Tasso. The bill states that governments have a responsibility to protect the health and environment of citizens and refers to the scientific evidence of harm caused by all forms of asbestos. The bill forbids the import of chrysotile asbestos after 180 days from the passage of the bill and forbids the use of chrysotile asbestos after 360 days.
A registry on the work and health histories of former employees of an asbestos mine in Newfoundland has been completed. The Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission says the registry will be used to help adjudicate occupational disease claims for former workers of the shuttered mine in Baie Verte.
A research group at Memorial University collected the confidential data after contacting 1,003 people who consented to be part of the registry.
The registry collected information from people who worked at the mine from 1955 until 1992.
Asbestos, magic mineral and hidden killer, was a 20th century nightmare right? Wrong. Asbestos is the “complete” carcinogen that just keeps on giving. A fascinating and comprehensive new book by Barbara Hadley and Tom Rennell (Asbestos: The Future Risk) reveals how asbestos is still killing workers and crippling insurance companies into the 21st century. And will continue to do so.
It’s estimated in the book that some 100,000 people die every year as a direct result of exposure to asbestos, roughly 275 every day, and this figure continues to rise.
The UN’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is collaborating with Russian asbestos propagandists who are determined to sabotage the UN Rotterdam Convention and prevent chrysotile asbestos from being listed as a hazardous substance under international law. This would permit Russia to continue exporting asbestos without being required to disclose that it is hazardous.
- UN Scientific Agency collaborating with scientists working to sabotage Rotterdam Convention
- UN Cancer Agency asked to sever its ties to asbestos propagandists
UN’s Agency for Research on Cancer collaborating with Russian asbestos propagandists
Saskatchewan has become the first province to make reporting of asbestos in public buildings mandatory. The province passed legislation Thursday that requires government buildings and hospitals to post on an online registry whether they contain asbestos. The legislation, named Howard’s Law, was introduced by the Opposition NDP last fall in honour of Howard Willems, a former building inspector who died from mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer that comes from inhaling asbestos fibres.
The man’s stepson, Jesse Todd, says Willems would be pleased that the bill has passed. “It’s something that he worked so hard for and it’s what he fought for the last two years of his life, so it’s a huge victory for him,” said Todd.
The three key international treaties that govern chemicals and hazardous waste, each headquartered in Geneva, are holding an unprecedented joint two-week convention of more than 1,500 delegates from 170 nations that is meant to consider new limits on some substances and look at ways the treaties can be better put to use together. The conference will culminate in a high-level meeting among about 80 ministers on May 9-10.
Canada — a major producer of asbestos until late 2012 — and several other nations blocked a similar measure two years ago. This time around, Willis said, Canada appears to be supportive of the proposal, and he is hopeful that Russia, which has large reserves of asbestos and is a newcomer to the treaty, won't block action..
On May 7 the 170 countries attending the Conference of the Parties to the UN Rotterdam Convention will be asked to approve the recommendation of the Convention’s expert scientific body to put chrysotile asbestos on the Convention’s list of hazardous substances.
Organisations around the world, representing thousands of asbestos victims, wrote a letter to call on all countries to support the listing and to end the cover-up of asbestos hazards.
This week, Russia, the world’s biggest asbestos exporter, will take over Canada’s role of sabotaging the convention. Of the 1 million tons of asbestos exported in 2011, Russia exported 750,000. Russia, therefore, has a big financial interest in the continued uncontrolled export of asbestos and continued coverup of its hazards. Canada does not even intend to support the listing of chrysotile asbestos. Instead, it will maintain a cowardly, ambiguous silence.
Civil society groups attending the Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva are expressing grave alarm that the Convention has been hijacked by the asbestos industry, which is determined to prevent the environmental and health protections of the Convention from being implemented. For the fourth time, a handful of countries allied to the asbestos industry have refused to allow chrysotile asbestos to be added to the Convention’s list of hazardous substances.
“The Convention requires that countries practice responsible trade by obtaining prior informed consent before they export hazardous substances to another country,” said Laurie Kazan-Allen, coordinator of IBAS, UK. “But these seven countries are determined to practice irresponsible trade and to hide the hazards of chrysotile asbestos.”
A billionaire Swiss industrialist convicted for his part in Italy's biggest asbestos scandal had his jail sentence lengthened to 18 years on Monday, in a ruling campaigners said would set a precedent for work-safety lawsuits.
Stephan Schmidheiny, found guilty of negligence that led to more than 2,000 asbestos-related deaths, was also ordered to pay millions of euros in damages to local authorities, victims and their families by an appeals court in Turin.
The asbestos lobbyists and seven countries allied to the asbestos industry put forward this same dishonest, deceptive and false information in their efforts – which were unfortunately successful – to sabotage the Rotterdam Convention so as to protect their financial profits, without regard for harm to human life.
In a powerful decision, a New York appeal court has found that eleven articles, published in scientific journals, were potentially part of a crime-fraud. The articles, financed by Georgia-Pacific, were intended to cast doubt on the capability of chrysotile asbestos to cause cancer.
For decades, some companies have fought efforts to regulate asbestos, even tampering with the science behind our understanding of its health effects. And, sadly, a recent court ruling indicates that the tampering may have been more widespread than anyone previously knew. . . Deliberately falsifying science isn’t just a financial matter for shareholders and company managers. It has real impacts—potential life-and-death impacts in the case of asbestos. Companies: by all means, market your products; tell us why you think they are good choices. But keep your lawyers, public relations, and marketing people out of the science we depend on. There are lives at stake.
Efforts to promote good health are more vital than ever given that non-communicable diseases have overtaken infectious diseases as the leading cause of death, a senior United Nations official said today, while also warning that they face daunting challenges, including from ‘big business’.
Seventeen occupations and 11 industries had statistically significant elevated SMORs for mesothelioma. Occupations and industries historically associated with mesothelioma remained elevated in these results. However, we also found statistically significant elevated SMORs for several occupations and industries for which there was previously weak or no association such as chemical engineers, machine operators, and automobile mechanics and machine manufacturing, railroads, and the U.S. Postal Service.
A personal loss has unfolded a collective tragedy in Karachi where a factory dumping site in Gadap Town exposes over two million residents to cancer-causing chemicals (Chrysotile asbestos) that annually take 100,000 lives at the global level resulting in its ban in 52 countries. This has been revealed in a report of the commission formed on the petition of a citizen, Syed Haroon, whose brother, an employee of Dadex Eternet Limited, died of cancer allegedly due to asbestos poisoning.
