While most developed countries, including the European Union and Australia have banned asbestos. The World HealthOrganization (WHO), the International Labour Organization, the Canadian Cancer Society and other respected organisations have called for a ban on all forms of asbestos. But instead of banning asbestos, the Canadian government uses tax-payers dollars and Canadian embassies to actively promote the sale of asbestos around the world.
Over 90% of Canada's asbestos goes to developing countries, where worker protections are weak or non-existent.
The Canadian government pushes the spin of the asbestos industry that chrysotile asbestos can somehow be safely handled. Medical experts and knowledgeable organizations, such as the WHO, disagree. And as the government knows full well, safety protections are usually non-existent in developing countries.
Quebec, home to most of Canada's asbestos mines, has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma (the deadly cancer caused by asbestos) on the planet. Yet the Canadian government refuses to even keep track of the growing numbers of Canadian workers who are sick and dying from asbestos-caused cancer.
And internationally Canada is acting as a scoundrel. Canada has been severely criticized for preventing the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous product under the Rotterdam Convention, an International Agreement that requires that importing countries be warned of the risks associated with hazardous products.
Please go to this page to send a letter to Stephen Harper at RightOnCanada - it's easy to do and will only take a minute or so.
"It is unconscionable that Canada knowingly exports a product that will kill thousands of people in Asia, Africa and South America," says David R. Boyd of the David Suzuki Foundation.
It's time, says health expert, Barry Castleman, for Canada "to join the rest of the civilized countries of this world in shutting down the asbestos industry."
The next meeting of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention takes place in Rome in October 2008.
The Canadian government must change its position before then - and you can help. Please tell the Canadian Prime Minister Harper to ban asbestos now, before more unnecessary deaths are caused. Tell him to put the lives of people ahead of the profits of the asbestos industry