Health Canada assessing risk of chrysotile asbestos

Globe and Mail Canada 22nd February 2008 reported that The World Health Organization says the chrysotile variety of asbestos is a health hazard and recommends its use be stopped to prevent cancer. So does the Canadian Cancer Society, and other respected public health agencies. But not Health Canada.

The federal health agency has quietly begun a study on the dangers of the asbestos type, the last remaining variety of the controversial mineral in widespread commercial use and the only one produced by mines in Canada.

The study is to try to determine the relationship between chrysotile fibres and the risk of contracting several diseases -such as lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma - and investigate the relative dangers of the Canadian variety compared with another type, known as amphibole.
But many public health advocates say repeated scientific reviews by respected international bodies have already found that all types of asbestos, including Canada's, cause cancer.
"Every legitimate world organization ... [has] concluded that chrysotile does indeed cause all asbestos-related diseases," said Richard Lemen, a retired assistant U.S. surgeon-general. The U.S. voted last year to ban all kinds of asbestos, Dr. Lemen said.

In an e-mailed statement, Health Canada said it was undertaking the research "to help further Canada's knowledge of chrysotile asbestos fibres in relation to human health," and to update the World Health Organization's last published assessment on the subject from 1998.
That assessment said all forms of asbestos were responsible for "a high incidence" of lung cancer and were so dangerous the safe exposure level was unknown at the time.

Critics say the government hopes the research might help sway opinion at key international talks, known as the Rotterdam Convention, which are scheduled for later this year and will discuss placing chrysotile on the list of the world's most hazardous substances.
Canada led efforts to scuttle the listing at the last round of these UN-sponsored talks two years ago.

"It would make sense that they would want to bolster their argument since it's coming up again this fall," said Larry Stoffman, Vancouver-based chairman of the National Environmental and Occupational Exposures Committee, an independent, cancer-prevention organization funded by Health Canada.
Mr. Stoffman said that chrysotile should be listed because "the overwhelming evidence is that this material is very dangerous" and that Canada would risk further damage to its international reputation by undermining efforts to control the product.
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