The federal government has helped to scuttle an effort by a UN-organized body to place chrysotile asbestos on the list of the world's most hazardous substances.
The decision is a blow to international public-health efforts to limit exports of asbestos to developing countries, but it is a victory for the Canadian government, which opposed additional controls on the controversial cancer-causing substance.
Canada is the world's No. 2 exporter of asbestos after Russia.
The UN body, known as the Rotterdam Convention, compiles a global watch list of substances that are so dangerous to the environment or human health that countries have to agree in advance to accept any shipments.
The convention operates by consensus, so Canada was able to block the move to list chrysotile, the most widely sold type of asbestos, by issuing a statement that it objected to the move.
However, the government said it was open to further discussions on the topic at the next meeting of the convention to be held in 2008.
The action indicates the new Harper government is continuing the long-standing Canadian policy of blocking international moves to control asbestos, an action taken to support the Quebec-based asbestos mining industry.
This has angered public-health advocates who had hoped the Conservatives would have changed this position, which they say damages the country's international reputation.
"I think it's morally reprehensible. I think it's a complete contradiction of what Canada purports to stand for," says Larry Stoffman, Vancouver-based chairman of the National Environmental and Occupational Exposures Committee, an independent, cancer-prevention organization funded by Health Canada.
Most advanced industrialized countries no longer use much asbestos, and its big current application is in cement products used to make housing in developing countries.
The head of the UN's environment agency issued a statement lamenting the failure to place chrysotile on the global watch list, which has 39 substances, including five other varieties of asbestos and pesticides, such as DDT, among others.
"The lack of a decision at this time to list chrysotile asbestos raises concerns for many developing countries that need to protect their citizens from the well-known risks of this hazardous substance," said Achim Steiner, executive director of the UN Environment Program.
The meeting of the convention was held in Geneva, and many countries expressed serious concerns about the failure to list chrysotile asbestos. Although Canada hasn't banned asbestos, dozens of countries no longer allow its use or severely restrict it, among them Australia, Chile and the European Union.
The World Health Organization says that chrysotile is a cancer-causing substance, and estimates that at least 90,000 people die each year of asbestos-related diseases, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.
Réjean Beaulieu, speaking for the Department of Foreign Affairs, said the government believes that asbestos can be used safely in developing countries provided workers follow proper precautions.
But those who track its use in such countries say construction workers seldom take enough safety steps to avoid exposure to its dust, which easily becomes imbedded in the lungs, causing asbestosis or cancer.
Although Canada is one of the world's biggest asbestos miners, less than 5 per cent is used domestically because of health and liability concerns.
37
