Expert Demands Canadian Minister Retract “Safe Use” Of Asbestos Comment
A key member of the Canadian government’s expert panel on asbestos is demanding that Natural Resources Minster Christian Paradis retract recent comments that cited the group’s report to promote the “safe use” of asbestos.
In a letter sent to Paradis last week, Leslie Stayner, an asbestos expert at the University of Illinois School of Public Health, states that Paradis’s comments to the media are a “total misrepresentation” of the expert panel’s report, which was commissioned by Health Canada.
Paradis, who represents the Quebec town where asbestos is still mined, told media in Quebec earlier this month that the Canadian government has “adopted a clear position and there have been no new facts since then. Our position remains the same, that of promoting the safe use of asbestos.”
He continues: “We have done our homework in this area. We assembled a panel of international experts and we came to this conclusion.”
But Stayner states in his letter to Paradia that the expert panel was never asked to address the question of whether chrysotile asbestos could be used safely.
In an interview, Stayner said his letter calls for Paradis “to retract this statement, which is patently false.” He also asked the minister to support a ban on the production and export of chrysotile asbestos mined in Quebec.
The latest development in the asbestos world comes just after newly released internal records show that the Canadian government repeatedly held back a report about the “strong relationship” between lung cancer and chrysotile asbestos.
Asbestos has been a hot-button issue in Canada, particularly in the province of Quebec, where the material is mined and exported to developing countries, such as India.
The issue is at the forefront even more right now, since Global Asbestos Awareness Week begins Friday.
