by psvish
15. May 2011 07:45
According to a documentary by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canadian government has been actively funding expoert of asbestos to developing countries like India, Sri Lanka, etc while at the same time banning its use inside Canada. In fact, the same politicians who vote to support these exports claiming asbestos "is safe when used properly and handled with appropriate protection," have voted to remove all asbestos from the Canadian parliament building - talk about double standards: this seems pretty sneaky even for the politicians!!
This is not a new development - in July of last year, the British Broadcasting Corporation aired a damning in-depth series on Canada's controversial asbestos industry and how the mineral is used in developing countries. The Quebec government has guaranteed a $58-million loan for a cash-strapped mine under condition that the promoter drums up additional financing. The move caused an outcry from health experts, labour groups and activists around the globe. The mineral is also known as chrysotile and much of Canada's exported asbestos goes to India. Despite clear evidence [from the CBC and BBC documentaries] showing that the workers handling asbestos in the countries to which Canada exports, Canadian government has taken no steps to stop the export of this proven cancer causing material.
According to health experts, this will result in about 90,000 deaths per year and India alone is reporting over 100,000 cases of lung infections/year. It's difficult to reconcile the positive image of Canada that most people have to this openly hypocritical policy, just to gain a few votes in Quebec.
Additional reading on this issue:
Comedy Central's The Daily Show recently aired an segment: see it here
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