RightOnCanada.ca

Kathleen Ruff, RightOnCanada.ca

In response to a complaint from scientists, academics and civil society organisations, Concordia University in Montreal has posted a notice that Concordia has withdrawn a report that the university funded and published in 2015, Lessons from the Quebec Asbestos Industry: Can there be meaningful dialogue and consensus when facts come up against feelings?  The notice states that the report should not be used or cited.

In a letter of April 26, 2017, the President of Concordia, Alan Shepard, states that Concordia has instructed the International Chrysotile Association (ICA) to remove text taken from the Concordia report that the ICA included in its document, Rotterdam Convention – COP8 Meeting – 2017. The ICA is currently using this document at a UN conference in Geneva to try to defeat the listing of chrysotile asbestos as a hazardous substance under the Rotterdam Convention.

The ICA has therefore been required to remove the text on page 4 of their Rotterdam Convention lobbying document, which criticized those who oppose the use of asbestos as engaging in a highly emotional campaign, ignoring scientific evidence, and promoting their position as scientific but without offering real scientific published studies.

The text on page 4 of the ICA’s document had been taken directly from the Concordia report.

Page 4 of the of the ICA’s Rotterdam Convention – COP8 Meeting – 2017  document is now a blank page.

In a letter of April 18, 2017 to President Shepard, dozens of scientists, academics and civil society organisations in Quebec, Canada and around the world, pointed out that: “The false scientific information and the irresponsible arguments put forward in the report are currently being quoted and used in order to undermine the work of the upcoming United Nations (UN) Conference on trade in hazardous substances that takes place in Geneva April 24 – May 5, 2017.” They called on Concordia to retract the report and to instruct the ICA to stop using it.

In a message to President Shepard on behalf of the signers, Kathleen Ruff welcomed the actions that Concordia has taken, noting that: “In the opinion of scientists in Quebec and around the world, the asbestos report that Concordia published put forward inaccurate, misleading information that serves the interests of the asbestos industry, causes harm to human and environmental health and does not meet academic standards. It is therefore, in our opinion, a positive step that Concordia has withdrawn the report and told the asbestos lobby organisation to stop using material from it.”