Canada to ban asbestos within two years

by carly_midgley | February 6, 2017 10:03 am

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Six years after the closure of Canada’s last asbestos mine, the government has announced a plan to ban the manufacture, use, import, and export of the material by 2018. Asbestos has already been banned in more than 50 countries, and in Canadian construction projects as of April 1 of last year.

Despite being one of the leading causes of workplace-related death—killing more than 2000 people every year, according to a study from the Canadian Cancer Society[2]—asbestos exposure is often not apparent at the outset; symptoms can take 20 to 40 years to manifest. Reducing the chance of exposure in the workplace, as this ban is intended to do, will help protect Canadian workers from its serious health effects.

Declared a ‘human carcinogen’ by the World Health Organization[3] (WHO) in 1987, any amount of asbestos can cause cancer—specifically, mesothelioma, which kills 60 per cent of sufferers within a year after their symptoms manifest, and asbestosis, a lung disease specific to the material. Mesothelioma also has a five-year survival rate of less than seven per cent.

Given these serious effects, the delay in banning asbestos may come as a surprise, but the reasons for it are likely economic—Canada, and Québec in particular, historically saw great success in the asbestos mining industry. As the material’s negative impact became more apparent, mining dwindled until it stopped in 2011. However, the Canadian Labour Congress[4] (CLC) still reports approximately 150,000 Canadian workers are regularly exposed to the material through work in industries like construction, for which materials containing asbestos are imported. (Another common application for asbestos is brake pads.)

CLC is calling for an improved tracking system of victims of asbestos exposure, as Saskatchewan is currently the only province to implement an effective method. The ban itself will involve alteration of building codes and introduction of new rules under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).

“This announcement reflects this government’s commitment to the health and safety of the Canadian workforce and, indeed, all Canadians,” says Bob Blakely, chief operating officer of Canada’s Building Trades Unions[5] (CBTU).

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/canada-to-ban-asbestos-within-two-years/

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