Saskatchewan Forms Asbestos Ban Organization
July 18th, 2007
In a move that bolsters a growing movement in Canada against the country’s continued mining and exporting of white (chrysotile) asbestos, individuals who live in the central Canadian province of Saskatchewan have formed Ban Asbestos Saskatchewan (BAS) in hopes of rallying others to lobby for a total ban on the dangerous mineral.
According to an article in the Regina Leader-Post, the organization was formed to “work with occupational health activists across the country in coalition with environmentalists, cancer prevention groups, public health activists and social justice activists in the formation of a national Ban Asbestos Canada (BAC) organization.”
Members of the new organization say the federal government’s policy on asbestos “mirrors the asbestos industry’s propaganda and challenges the world’s public interest scientists and independent UN health bodies.”
The article points out that 40 countries have already banned asbestos and the European Union has not only banned the material, but also forbids all 27 members from channeling or exporting the material to Third World countries.
“The public needs to be aware,” says the article, “that there is no provincial or federal government monitoring of products containing asbestos entering Saskatchewan or Canada.”
