Chuck Strahl wants asbestos in the spotlight at next week's Rotterdam Convention

The Canadian government's dogged defense of its mesothelioma industry (aka asbestos mining industry) is neither news nor is it particularly hope-inspiring, but I include this in today's Mesothelioma Hope post precisely because this is another chance for Canada's hypocritical exportation of asbestos to get media attention, and alert people to the inevitable "asbestos tsunami" (as the WHO's Dr. Ken Takahashi put it in this New York Times article) that Asia faces in the coming decades.

What IS news, however, is conservative member of the Canadian Parliament Chuck Strahl breaking rank with his party to request that they add asbestos to the list of hazardous chemicals at next Monday's Rotterdam Convention in Geneva. Strahl suffers from asbestos lung cancer, due to asbestos exposure in his youth, and has said that he is reluctant to ban asbestos outright, but he believes asbestos should definitely be added to the list of dangerous chemicals and substances:

"We should just list it... What isn't right is to ship something to some country and say, 'We won't tell you what's in this. Don't worry about it.' The important thing to me is to tell people about the risk. ...It is demonstrably bad for you, this stuff."

Strahl explained his reasons for speaking out a month after his retirement. Mr. Strahl is quoted in today's Montreal Gazette:

 "The Prime Minister and Quebec's regional minister have both said that they support the safe use of chrysotile asbestos. It's hard to argue with that. By listing chrysotile in the Rotterdam Convention as a product that deserves to be handled carefully and with proper warnings, safe use is more likely to occur. Workers from all countries will be grateful for that notification - if not today, then a generation from now."

That is exactly the kind of thinking we need from our politicians--thinking about what will happen a generation from now. We have seen what asbestos usage in the past has given us today. Why would asbestos exposure today give us anything other than mesothelioma tomorrow?

We'll be waiting to see what this year's Rotterdam Convention brings and reporting after. Hopefully, global responsibility will win out over the profit motive, and protect the lives of millions in India and everywhere else that Canada exports its supposedly safe chrysotile. We can always hope.