Quebec stands firm on asbestos exports despite growing controversy.

Premier of Quebec Jean Charest is refusing to stop exporting chrysotile asbestos, despite a growing international outcry accusing Canada of hypocrisy in promoting the sale of a known carcinogen. On a trade mission in February to India — the largest buyer of asbestos from Quebec — protests greeted Charest at two of his stops, including a summit on sustainable development in Delhi. Members of the Building and Wood Workers International Union confronted Charest, accusing Quebec and Canada of exporting a product that is neither green nor sustainable. Before he left Quebec City, Charest also received a letter signed by 100 physicians and scientists from 28 countries, urging him to support a ban on asbestos, which is produced in Thetford Mines, Quebec. “We appeal to you to respect the overwhelmingly consistent body of scientific evidence and the considered judgment of the World Health Organization (WHO) that all forms of asbestos have been shown to be deadly and that safe use of any form of asbestos has proven impossible anywhere in the world,” the letter began. “Under Canadian law, chrysotile asbestos is classified as a hazardous substance, but the Quebec government has successfully lobbied to prevent it being recognized as such under international environmental law, thus creating a double standard of protection as if some lives were less deserving of protection than others.” The letter was cosigned by epidemiologist Devra Davis, founder of Environmental Health Trust, and Sue Janse van Rensburg, chief executive officer of the Cancer Association of South Africa, on behalf of the 98 others who lent their names to the campaign. (In 2008, South Africa banned the use, manufacturing, import and export of asbestos except for specific exemptions.) But Charest told reporters in a postsummit press conference that chrysotile asbestos can be used safely. “There is a limit” to what Quebec can do, Charest said, adding that it is up to the Indian government to put standards in place to ensure the safe handling of chrysotile asbestos. The premier’s stance is “a crazy position in terms of science” and is based on politics and the need to protect about 700 jobs in Thetford Mines, The safe use of any form of asbestos is “impossible anywhere in the world,” states a letter to Quebec Premier Jean Charest signed by physicians and doctors from 28 countries. Quebec stands firm on asbestos exports despite growing controversy