Asbestos Main Cause of Canada’s Workplace Deaths

December 12, 2006 - A report issued this week by Canada’s Centre for the Study of Living Standards states that an average of five Canadians die each working day every year as a result of a workplace accident or industrial disease.  The report expresses "grave concern" that this death toll is rising in Canada, unlike other industrialized nations, where such rates continue to drop.

"We have also linked the increase in workplace deaths in Canada to asbestos exposure," says the report, which attacks the country’s continued support of asbestos mining and exports. 

An article in the Ottawa Citizen reports that asbestos-related deaths accounted for 62 percent of those from occupational diseases and 30 percent of total workplace fatalities in 2004, the most recent year for which there are full figures. 

"The increased fatality rate from asbestos, up from 0.4 per 100,000 workers in 1996 to 1.8 in 2004, accounted for the lion's share of the increased incidence from occupational disease," it says.

Some Canadian government officials and many of the country’s citizens are angered over Canada’s recent move to block asbestos from being added to the list of internationally banned substances. Most see the move as purely financial.  Quebec continues to operate asbestos mines and to send the substance to third world countries.  The adding of asbestos to the aforementioned list would mean that these countries would have to prove that they could handle the asbestos responsibly before receiving it.

"Asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known," said Pat Martin, a Manitoba MP and former mine worker, who still undergoes annual tests on his scarred lungs. "And Canada is in complete denial of the health risks."

"We're still the second-largest producer and exporter of asbestos in the world but we won't say 'boo' because all the mines are in Quebec," Mr. Martin said. "It's appalling."