Asbestos research program launched

An $11-million research and development program for Canada’s troubled asbestos industry has been launched by the federal and Quebec governments.

The money will be spent over a 4-year period, with Ottawa and Quebec each putting up $4 milllion and the industry putting up $2 million. An additional $1 million will be provided by the Montreal- based Asbestos

Institute, which promotes the safe use of asbestos in Canada (and which is funded by both the federal and Quebec governments).

“The money will be used mainly to research how asbestos mining techniques can be improved and how production costs can be reduced,” Quebec Mines Minister Raymond Savoie told The Northern Miner. “It’s all part of an over- all plan to come to the aid of asbestos. We have to improve the image of asbestos (which has been linked with various lung diseases) and also discover ways whereby Canadian asbestos mines can reduce their costs.”

Mr Savoie added that the program will probably have little impact on the Washington-based Environmental Protection Agency. In January, 1986, the epa called for a total ban on five products containing asbestos and a phase-out, over a 10-year period, of most other asbestos-containing products. Meanwhile Ottawa, Quebec and the asbestos industry have been lobbying for the agency to reverse its proposal. They argue that the mineral can be used safely when controlled.

“The epa knows it is politically useful to hit out against asbestos,” Mr Savoie said. “By attacking asbestos, they are not hurting anyone in the U.S. It’s an easy target because a lot of people suffered from exposure to asbestos is the 1940s and 50s.” (Workers in the U.S. with asbestos-related diseases have filed some 30,000 lawsuits and the industry has already paid out some $600 million in claims.)

“But the epa have painted themselves into a corner with very poor scientific evidence,” Mr Savoie added. “They’re stuck because they know their scientific documentation has to be redone.”

Canada provides 28.8% of the world’s asbestos — second only to the U.S.S.R. which provides 47.5%. Last year Canada produced 640,000 tonnes and exported 711,000 for a surplus of 71,000 tonnes. However, asbestos use in the U.S. has plummeted.