June 23, 2011

Tory Talking Points on Asbestos Ignore the ScienceFrançais

How does the Conservative Government justify their continued support for hiding the dangers of the worlds worst industrial killer?

Not very creatively – but I suppose it is hard to find arguments to defend a position that the WHO, the ILO, all medical health professionals, overwhelming scientific evidence, and nearly every other country in the world oppose.

Check out their attempts in the House of Commons when pressed by New Democrat MPs

Talking Point #1 ignores the fact that Canada is alone in this lunatic assertion. Most of Canada’s asbestos is exported to developing countries where workers have little to no protection from the killer substance – as an excellent CBC documentary shows here

Talking Point #2 is patently false. Every legitimate, peer-reviewed scientific study confirms that chrysotile asbestos causes cancer and other diseases – as an excellent Maclean’s story indicates here

Talking Point #3 refers to a dubious Russian organization that alleges the movement to control asbestos harms is controlled by secretive asbestos liability lawyers here

Hansard – 8 (2011/06/14)

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canada has spent more than a decade trying to stop asbestos from being placed on the Rotterdam Convention list of hazardous materials. We have now learned that Health Canada informed the government of the dangers associated with asbestos and recommended that this product be added to the list. The Conservatives ignored this advice.

Will this government reconsider and allow asbestos to be added to the Rotterdam Convention list?

Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, for more than 30 years, Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile at home and abroad. In addition, scientific publications show that chrysotile can be used safely under controlled conditions.

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, that is not true.
[English]
This is a simple issue. This is about protecting lives. This is about ensuring materials are used safely.

The Conservatives allowed the exportation of 750,000 tonnes of asbestos in 2006, particularly to the developing world where workers are least protected. One hundred thousand people a year are killed from asbestos.

Will the government finally put lives ahead of politics and allow this deadly product to be listed under the UN’s Rotterdam Convention?
[Translation]

Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, once again, for more than 30 years, Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile at home and abroad. The premier of Quebec himself said, “The government has not changed its mind. It will continue to defend the safe use of chrysotile, a policy that should be defended.”

Earlier, he said, “Quebec promotes the safe use of chrysotile. That is what we do at home and that is what is encouraged throughout the world.”

Hansard – 10 (2011/06/16)

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, every day, work is underway in the House of Commons to decontaminate members’ offices that contain asbestos. The offices are being decontaminated because asbestos is carcinogenic and harmful to human health.

Could the member for Mégantic—L‘Érable, who is so proud of chrysotile, tell this House whether he wants the asbestos in his colleagues’s offices to be replaced with chrysotile, which is allegedly less carcinogenic, or would he rather continue to export his hypocrisy to third-world countries?

Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, I want to clear some things up. For 30 years, Canada has been promoting the safe and controlled use of chrysotile nationally and internationally, and all recent scientific journals report that chrysotile can be used safely in a controlled environment. That is not at all what the member on the other side of the House is talking about.
[English]

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Conservative support for the asbestos industry is indefensible. Quebeckers and communities alike want their miners to be safe and do not want to be global exporters of asbestos into the developing world.

Unions, doctors and even Health Canada agree asbestos causes cancer. When will the minister stand up for what is right and agree to put chrysotile asbestos on the UN’s list of hazardous materials?
[Translation]

Hon. Christian Paradis (Minister of Industry and Minister of State (Agriculture), CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Government of Canada has been promoting the safe use of chrysotile nationally and internationally for 30 years. Scientific journals report that chrysotile can be used safely in a controlled environment.

Hansard – 11 (2011/06/20)

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Rotterdam convention meeting on hazardous material starts today in Geneva.

In 2006 and 2008, the government blocked chrysotile asbestos from being added to the list against Health Canada’s recommendations. Now the eyes of the world are back on the government to see if Canada will finally do the right thing.

I have a simple question. Will the government allow chrysotile asbestos to be added to the Rotterdam convention, yes or no?

Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, our position at Rotterdam will be the same as in Canada. For over 30 years the Government of Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile, both domestically and internationally. All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely under controlled conditions.
[Translation]

Mr. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the member does not seem to understand that the Rotterdam Convention specifies that countries must ensure that hazardous material is handled safely. By opposing this classification, the Conservatives are putting the lives of many workers around the world in danger. Even former Conservative minister Chuck Strahl has denounced this position. He had the courage to take a stand.

Will the current Conservative members do the same and agree that asbestos should be classified as a hazardous material?

Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, the Chrysotile Institute is mandated by the federal government, the Government of Quebec and chrysotile workers’ unions to promote the safe and controlled use of chrysotile here in Canada and internationally.

Hansard – 14 (2011/06/21)

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, Canada’s position on asbestos is morally and ethically reprehensible, and even as we speak, teams of Department of Justice lawyers have been dispatched to Geneva to sabotage the Rotterdam Convention once again, the list of hazardous chemicals that require prior informed consent to trade.

Canada is already an international pariah for its policy on asbestos, for dumping it into the third world when we will not use it ourselves.

How can we in all good conscience block efforts to put labels on asbestos to warn its recipients to take health and safety protections against this class A carcinogen? What kind of country are we?

Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, for over 30 years the Government of Canada has promoted the safe and controlled use of chrysotile, both domestically and internationally.

Our position at Rotterdam is the same as it is in Canada. All scientific reviews clearly confirm that chrysotile fibres can be used safely under controlled situations.
[Translation]

Ms. Hélène Laverdière (Laurier-Sainte-Marie, NDP): Mr. Speaker, public health experts and occupational health experts the world over agree that there is no safe way to use asbestos.

Not a single reliable study in the world shows that asbestos can be used safely, as the Minister of Natural Resources contends.

Asbestos should be added to the Rotterdam Convention.

How can the minister continue to defend the indefensible?

Hon. Joe Oliver (Minister of Natural Resources, CPC): Mr. Speaker, as I said, all the recent scientific reviews show that chrysotile can be used in a safe and controlled manner. The Chrysotile Institute is mandated by the federal government, the Government of Quebec and the chrysotile workers unions to support the attempts to promote the safe and controlled use of chrysotile in Canada and around the world.

Hansard – 12 (2011/06/23)

M. Romeo Saganash (Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, NPD): Monsieur le Président, le Canada est maintenant pointé du doigt à cause de sa position indéfendable à la Convention de Rotterdam.

Il y a deux jours le ministre expliquait que la position du Canada était justifiable compte tenu que d’autres pays empêchaient l’amiante chrysotile d‘être inscrit sur la liste. Pourtant, plusieurs de ces pays ont maintenant changé d’avis et maintenant le Canada est encore isolé.

Ce gouvernement va-t-il enfin expliquer pourquoi il s’entête à refuser d’ajouter le chrysotile à la Convention de Rotterdam?

L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, on sait que depuis plus de 30 ans, le gouvernement du Canada prône une utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile sur les scènes internationales et nationales. En outre, les études scientifiques récentes confirment clairement que les fibres peuvent utilisées de façon sécuritaire dans un environnement contrôlé. Notre position à la Convention reflète celle adoptée au Canada.

Mr. Nathan Cullen (Skeena—Bulkley Valley, NDP): Mr. Speaker, former Conservative cabinet minister Chuck Strahl recently said that it was “logical and right” to list asbestos as dangerous.

Tuesday, the minister stood and told Canadians that there was no need for Canada to get up in opposition to the listing because other countries would do our dirty work for us. However, when India and Ukraine stepped away, Canada was left alone in the spotlight, defending what the world knows to be wrong.

Will the minister stop defending the asbestos lobby and realize that the time has come to do the right thing, to list asbestos as dangerous, as the world has come to agree?

L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, le syndicat international appelé le International Trade-union Movement For Chrysotile représente des centaines de milliers de travailleurs qui ont justement pris position en faveur d’une utilisation sécuritaire, parce que des études scientifiques récentes démontrent que l’utilisation du chrysotile peut être faite de façon sécuritaire dans un environnement contrôlé.

M. François Lapointe (Montmagny—L’Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, NPD): Monsieur le Président, l’Inde, qui est le principal importateur d’amiante en provenance du Canada, a donné son appui pour que l’amiante chrysotile soit ajoutée à la liste de la Convention de Rotterdam. L’Inde pourrait ainsi contrôler les effets néfastes de l’amiante, en plus de garantir que les risques associés à l’utilisation de ce produit soient clairement identifiés.

Pourquoi ce gouvernement met ses énergies à s’opposer à une convention qui pourrait sauver des vies plutôt que de mettre en place un plan qui permettrait aux travailleurs de l’amiante de se diriger vers des industries d’avenir?

L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, depuis plus de 30 ans, le gouvernement du Canada prône une utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile. Cela peut être fait dans un environnement contrôlé, et c’est ce que les études scientifiques récentes démontrent. La position du Canada à la convention reflète celle qui est adoptée ici au pays.

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): Mr. Speaker, asbestos is the greatest industrial killer the world has ever known. More people die from asbestos than from all other industrial causes combined, yet Canada continues to be one of the largest producers and exporters in the world.

Without exaggeration, we are exporting human misery on a monumental scale and yet we are taking active steps to ensure that companies do not even warn their customers, the third world and developing nations, where we are dumping hundreds of thousands of tonnes asbestos. Conservatives do not think it should even have a warning label on it.

Our position is morally and ethically reprehensible. Do they not realize the black eye they are giving our country—

L’hon. Christian Paradis (ministre de l’Industrie et ministre d‘État (Agriculture), PCC): Monsieur le Président, on sait que les études scientifiques récentes démontrent clairement que les fibres de chrysotile peuvent être utilisées dans un environnement contrôlé de façon sécuritaire. D’ailleurs, aujourd’hui, le International Trade-union Movement For Chrysotile, qui représente des centaines de milliers de travailleurs, a réitéré cette position en appui à l’utilisation sécuritaire et contrôlée du chrysotile.

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