December 2, 2009, CBC News<\/a><\/p>\nPublic health officials in Quebec have added their voices to those calling on the Canadian government to end its support for the mining and use of asbestos.<\/p>\n
The group has sent a letter to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq criticizing the government for its support of the mineral that has been banned in many countries as a health hazard.<\/p>\n
The issue is a sensitive one in Quebec, home to the country\u2019s only operational asbestos mine, located in the town of Thetford Mines.<\/p>\n
In the letter sent to Aglukkaq by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and the Rideau Institute, Quebec public health officials said they are \u201cextremely disturbed\u201d by what they call \u201cmisleading, inadequate and, at times, false information\u201d about the risks of asbestos found on Health Canada’s and other government websites.<\/p>\n
“This industry in Canada should not be promoted like it is currently with federal and provincial funds,” said Dr. Pierre Gosselin, a researcher affiliated with Quebec\u2019s National Institute of Public Health.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Stephen Harper reiterated his support for the industry during a visit to Thetford Mines area in August, calling it an important regional issue for Quebec.<\/p>\n
But Gosselin dismissed that idea.<\/p>\n
“There’s only one mine left, with 300 and some workers,” he said. “It’s a very minor activity in Canada nowadays.”<\/p>\n
Aglukkaq has not yet responded to the letter.<\/p>\n
Quebec Report studies effects<\/h3>\n
The letter comes amid reports the Quebec government has been holding on to a report that explores the link between asbestos-related cancer and the community of Thetford Mines for eight months.<\/p>\n
The study is believed to be the first Canadian research to look at asbestos-related cancer in a specific region, The Canadian Press reported Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Quebec’s public health institute delivered the completed report to regional officials and the provincial Health Ministry in March.<\/p>\n
But the study, and its potentially alarming conclusions, still hasn’t been made public. Officials say that will finally happen this month.<\/p>\n
Asbestos, also known as chrysotile, is recognized for its heat- and fire-resistant qualities. It was widely used in Canada and around the world between the 1950s and the ’70s, often as insulation.<\/p>\n
2) Le Devoir, 2009-12-02, Rioux Soucy, Louise-Maude<\/p>\n
L’amiante continue de tuer avec la complicit\u00e9 de l’\u00c9tat, selon des m\u00e9decins<\/p>\n
L’amiante chrysotile est un produit s\u00e9curitaire, a r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9 encore cette semaine le pr\u00e9sident de l’Institut du chrysotile, Cl\u00e9ment Godbout. Un discours taill\u00e9 en pi\u00e8ces par des m\u00e9decins, qui r\u00e9clament la fin de l’utilisation et de l’exportation de l’amiante sous toutes ses formes.<\/p>\n
L’amiante continue d’inqui\u00e9ter la communaut\u00e9 m\u00e9dicale au point o\u00f9 des m\u00e9decins n’h\u00e9sitent plus \u00e0 parler d’\u00ab\u00e9pid\u00e9mie\u00bb. Dans une lettre dont Le Devoir a obtenu copie, ceux-ci somment la ministre f\u00e9d\u00e9rale de la Sant\u00e9, Leona Aglukkaq, de \u00abmettre fin \u00e0 la trag\u00e9die \u00e9vitable caus\u00e9e par l’amiante\u00bb, alors que chaque jour pr\u00e8s de quatre cas de cancers li\u00e9s \u00e0 cette substance sont diagnostiqu\u00e9s au pays.<\/p>\n
Les derniers chiffres publi\u00e9s par Statistique Canada montrent que les cas de m\u00e9soth\u00e9liome (un cancer rare g\u00e9n\u00e9ralement li\u00e9 \u00e0 une exposition \u00e0 l’amiante) ont augment\u00e9 de 67 % en 15 ans pour atteindre 461 cas en 2006. Pour chaque m\u00e9soth\u00e9liome li\u00e9 \u00e0 une exposition \u00e0 l’amiante, il faut compter au moins deux cancers du poumon, a montr\u00e9 la litt\u00e9rature scientifique. Autrement dit, ce sont donc pas moins de 1383 nouveaux cas de cancers li\u00e9s \u00e0 l’amiante qui auront \u00e9t\u00e9 diagnostiqu\u00e9s cette ann\u00e9e-l\u00e0.<\/p>\n
Ces chiffres illustrent l’important retard qu’a pris le Canada dans le dossier de l’amiante, estime la cinquantaine de signataires, qui compte notamment le pr\u00e9sident de l’Association canadienne des m\u00e9decins pour l’environnement de m\u00eame que le Dr Fernand Turcotte, de la facult\u00e9 de m\u00e9decine de l’Universit\u00e9 Laval, et le Dr Louis Drouin, de la direction de sant\u00e9 publique de Montr\u00e9al.<\/p>\n
A l’Institut du chrysotile, on argue que la norme actuelle – fix\u00e9e par Ottawa \u00e0 une fibre par centim\u00e8tre cube – a permis de mettre les travailleurs parfaitement \u00e0 l’abri. Un site du gouvernement vers lequel Sant\u00e9 Canada dirige le public leur donne raison en stipulant que la \u00abpreuve scientifique a d\u00e9montr\u00e9 que [l’amiante chrysotile] peut \u00eatre employ\u00e9 sans risque aux niveaux bas d’exposition [approximativement 1 f\/cm3]\u00bb.<\/p>\n
Pas d’accord, r\u00e9torquent les signataires de cette lettre, qui d\u00e9plorent que le gouvernement puisse transmettre ainsi des \u00abrenseignements erron\u00e9s\u00bb. Ceux-ci jugent plut\u00f4t que cette norme est \u00abdangereuse\u00bb, au point o\u00f9 son maintien \u00abcausera la maladie et la mort de nouveaux Canadiens\u00bb. \u00abLe consensus scientifique courant est qu’il n’y a aucun niveau d’exposition qui soit s\u00e9curitaire pour l’amiante chrysotile\u00bb, \u00e9crivent-ils.<\/p>\n
Ceux-ci rappellent que partout ailleurs en Occident, cette norme est dix fois moins \u00e9lev\u00e9e. Dans certains pays, comme l’Allemagne, cette norme est m\u00eame jusqu’\u00e0 cent fois plus basse. Une quarantaine de pays ont carr\u00e9ment interdit l’utilisation de toutes les formes d’amiante sur leur sol.<\/p>\n
Les signataires de cette lettre veulent que la ministre Aglukkaq profite de la r\u00e9vision du R\u00e8glement sur la sant\u00e9 et la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 au travail pour faire siennes les recommandations de l’Association m\u00e9dicale canadienne, de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 canadienne du cancer, du Congr\u00e8s de travail du Canada, de l’Organisation mondiale de la sant\u00e9 et de la F\u00e9d\u00e9ration mondiale des associations pour la sant\u00e9 publique, qui demandent aux \u00c9tats de renoncer \u00e0 l’utilisation de l’amiante.<\/p>\n
Au Qu\u00e9bec, l’Institut national de sant\u00e9 publique r\u00e9clame lui aussi la r\u00e9vision \u00e0 la baisse de la norme en vigueur. \u00abCe sont des recommandations que nous avons faites d\u00e8s 2003, raconte Louise De Guire. Nous n’avons pas fix\u00e9 de seuil \u00e0 atteindre, mais nous avons vu cet automne que les Fran\u00e7ais ont r\u00e9duit leur norme \u00e0 0,01 f\/cm3, un choix qui s’inscrit dans notre ligne de pens\u00e9e.\u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1) There is an article on the CBC website, Quebec health officials denounce asbestos. At present, there are two votes recommending the article and no comments. If you can, please go vote and post a comment. CBC websites tend to get quite a bit of public attention and this also increases the chances that CBC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[49,51,48,52,50],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-media","tag-canadian-association-of-physicians-for-the-environment","tag-dr-pierre-gosselin","tag-health-minister-leona-aglukkaq","tag-quebecs-national-institute-of-public-health","tag-rideau-institute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":414,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions\/414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rightoncanada.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}