Canada under fire for asbestos exports

OTTAWA, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Medical officials in Canada, Britain and the United States are condemning the Canadian government's continued exports of asbestos to developing countries.

Last March, the Health Canada agency produced a 4,000 word report on the threats of asbestos, which is known to cause lung cancer and asbestosis. Its panel members are forbidden from disclosing the contents, although one member told the Canwest News Service it "does not support continued Canadian exports."

This week's edition of the Canadian Medical Association Journal calls for an export ban.

"For Canada to pretend that India, Thailand and Indonesia can succeed in managing asbestos safely, when developed countries have failed, is fanciful," the editorial said.

The British journal Annals of Occupational Hygiene's online editorial also criticized Canada's asbestos policy, the report said.

The U.S. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine says Canada's claim asbestos can be safely exported to developing countries "should be truly embarrassing to the Canadian government and people."

Canada's only asbestos mines are in Quebec, and employ as many as 700 people. Asbestos exports generate about $93 million per year, the report said.