In a letter dated December 1, 2009 to Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq, Canadian health experts challenged the Minister to defend health and not the profits of the asbestos industry.
Dear Minister Aglukkaq:
As Canada’s Minister of Health, you have a special duty to protect public health, a duty that overrides all other considerations.
Statistics Canada reports that 461 new cases of mesothelioma were reported in 2006, an increase of 67 per cent over a decade and a half.
It is well recognized that for every case of mesolthelioma from exposure to asbestos, there at least two to three cases of lung cancer. Consequently, taking a conservative approach and estimating only twice as many cases of lung cancer as cases of mesothelioma, one arrives at an estimated 1, 383 new cases of asbestos-caused mesothelioma and lung cancer in Canada in 2006. That represents almost four new cases of asbestos-caused disease every day of the year. This figure does not include the many new cases of asbestosis each year.
Thu, Nov 4, 2010
Misc.