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Objective Asbestos use has decreased over time but occupational exposure still exists today due to the presence of asbestos in older buildings. The objective of this study was to update CAREX Canada's prevalence of exposure estimate from 2006 to 2016, and to assess the level of occupational exposure by industry, occupation, province/territory, and sex. Methods Estimates by occupation, industry, province/territory, and sex were calculated using labor force data from the 2016 Census of Population and proportions of workers exposed by occupation and industry, which were previously developed for the 2006 estimates and updated here to reflect new knowledge and changes in exposures. Statistics Canada concordance tables were used to account for changes between the 2006 and 2016 job and industry coding systems. Expert assessment was used to qualitatively assign levels of exposure (low, moderate, or high) for each occupation and industry, with consideration of workers' proximity and access to asbestos-containing material, and the condition and content of asbestos. Results Approximately 235 000 workers are exposed to asbestos on the job in Canada. The majority of Canadian workers exposed to asbestos are male (89%). Only 5% of all exposed workers are in the high-exposure category, while most workers are in the low (49%) or moderate (46%) exposure categories. The construction sector and associated jobs (e.g. carpenters, trades helpers and laborers, electricians) accounted for the majority of exposed workers. Conclusions Occupational exposure to asbestos continues to occur in Canada. Updating the prevalence of exposure estimate and adding exposure levels highlights the shift from high to lower-lever exposures associated with asbestos-containing materials remaining in the built environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on finest specimens of mineral collection from the former asbestos mines in the Asbestos–Thetford Mines–Black Lake region of Québec, Canada. Topics include rounding out the Amabili collection is a small selection of aesthetic specimens from various localities and the finding of two superb serandites from the famous 1973 discovery.

Exposure to occupational carcinogens is often overlooked as a contributor to the burden of cancer. To estimate the proportion of cancer cases attributable to occupational exposure in Canada in 2011, exposure prevalence and levels of 44 carcinogens were informed by data from the Canadian carcinogen exposure surveillance project (CAREX Canada). These were used with Canadian Census (between 1961 and 2011) and Labour Force Survey (annual surveys between 1976 and 2013) data to estimate the number of workers ever exposed to occupational carcinogens. Risk estimates of the association between each carcinogen and cancer site were selected mainly from published literature reviews. Population attributable risks were estimated using Levin's equation and applied to the 2011 cancer statistics from the Canadian Cancer Registry. It is estimated that 15.5 million Canadians alive in 2011 were exposed, during at least one year between 1961 and 2001, to at least one carcinogen in the workplace. Overall, we estimated that in 2011, between 3.9% (95% CI: 3.1%-8.1%) and 4.2% (95% CI: 3.3%-8.7%) of all incident cases of cancer were due to occupational exposure, corresponding to lower and upper numbers of 7700-21,800 cases. Five of the cancer sites - mesothelioma, non-melanoma skin cancer, lung, female breast, and urinary bladder - account for a total of 7600 to 21,200 cancers attributable to occupational exposures such as solar radiation, asbestos, diesel engine exhaust, crystalline silica, and night shift work. Our study highlights cancer sites and occupational exposures that need recognition and efforts by all stakeholders to avoid preventable cancers in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study updates the mortality experience of over 25,000 workers in a large Canadian petroleum company through December 31, 2006. Methods: Standardized mortality ratios were generated for all-cause and specific cause mortality. Results: All cause and all cancer mortality were favorable compared with the general Canadian population. Cancers of previous interest were largely consistent with expectation. There is a continuing excess of mesothelioma, which is of similar magnitude as the previous update, although based on larger numbers. This excess is mostly attributable to men who died in their 50s and 60s and who worked in the refining sector. Conclusion: Most causes of death show mortality rates lower than the Canadian general population. Given the excess of mesothelioma observed, this study supports ongoing vigilance in asbestos exposure control programs, as refineries continue to remove asbestos from their facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada is proposing a ban on asbestos, and the US Environmental Protection Agency has listed it among the first 10 materials it is investigating under the new Toxic Substances Control Act revisions. However, this effort is currently running up against enormous industry and political opposition. Here, we detail the activities in the early 1970s of the Friction Materials Standards Institute, an industry trade association, to stifle earlier attempts to regulate asbestos use in brake linings, one of the oldest and most obvious sources of asbestos exposure to mechanics, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence is limited regarding risk and the shape of the exposure-response curve at low asbestos exposure levels. We estimated the exposure-response for occupational asbestos exposure and assessed the joint effect of asbestos exposure and smoking by sex and lung cancer subtype in general population studies.Methods: We pooled 14 case-control studies conducted in 1985-2010 in Europe and Canada, including 17,705 lung cancer cases and 21,813 controls with detailed information on tobacco habits and lifetime occupations. We developed a quantitative job-exposure-matrix to estimate job-, time period-, and region-specific exposure levels. Fiber-years (ff/ml-years) were calculated for each subject by linking the matrix with individual occupational histories. We fit unconditional logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs), 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and trends.Results: The fully adjusted OR for ever-exposure to asbestos was 1.24 (95% CI, 1.18, 1.31) in men and 1.12 (95% CI, 0.95, 1.31) in women. In men, increasing lung cancer risk was observed with increasing exposure in all smoking categories and for all three major lung cancer subtypes. In women, lung cancer risk for all subtypes was increased in current smokers (ORs ~two-fold). The joint effect of asbestos exposure and smoking did not deviate from multiplicativity among men, and was more than additive among women.Conclusions: Our results in men showed an excess risk of lung cancer and its subtypes at low cumulative exposure levels, with a steeper exposure-response slope in this exposure range than at higher, previously studied levels. (See video abstract at, http://links.lww.com/EDE/B161.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improved land stewardship is necessary for climate change mitigation. As such, actions are needed to increase carbon (C) sinks and reduce C emissions from land use activities. Residual materials with fertilizing capacity can be used to reconstruct severely degraded soils and recreate a sustainable vegetation cover, leading to reductions in atmospheric CO 2 levels. We studied the temporal dynamics of CO 2 sequestration potential in soils reconstructed with 1200 Mg ha−1 biosolids along a young chronosequence ranging from 0 to 7 years after initiating reclamation of a decommissioned asbestos mine in southern Québec, Canada. We measured in situ soil CO 2 fluxes, soil C pools and soil physicochemical properties. Since bacterial communities are highly responsive to soil physicochemical properties, we also analyzed both their diversity and community structure. The age since soil reclamation did not have a clear effect on soil properties, but it exerted greater control over soil C fluxes and soil bacterial community diversity and structure. Our results suggest large C fluxes to the atmosphere within the first year following soil reconstruction, but soils constitute a stable C pool thereafter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The use of measurement data in occupational exposure assessment allows more quantitative analyses of possible exposure-response relations. We describe a quantitative exposure assessment approach for five lung carcinogens (i.e. asbestos, chromium-VI, nickel, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (by its proxy benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)) and respirable crystalline silica). A quantitative job-exposure matrix (JEM) was developed based on statistical modeling of large quantities of personal measurements. Methods: Empirical linear models were developed using personal occupational exposure measurements (n = 102 306) from Europe and Canada, as well as auxiliary information like job (industry), year of sampling, region, an a priori exposure rating of each job (none, low, and high exposed), sampling and analytical methods, and sampling duration. The model outcomes were used to create a JEM with a quantitative estimate of the level of exposure by job, year, andregion. Results: Decreasing time trends were observed for all agents between the 1970s and 2009, ranging from -1.2% per year for personal BaP and nickel exposures to -10.7% for asbestos (in the time period before an asbestos ban was implemented). Regional differences in exposure concentrations (adjusted for measured jobs, years of measurement, and sampling method and duration) varied by agent, ranging from a factor 3.3 for chromium-VI up to a factor 10.5 for asbestos. Conclusion: We estimated time-, job-, and region-specific exposure levels for four (asbestos, chromium-VI, nickel, and RCS) out of five considered lung carcinogens. Through statistical modeling of large amounts of personal occupational exposure measurement data we were able to derive a quantitative JEM to be used in community-based studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article outlines a hierarchy of data required for retrospective exposure assessment for occupational disease of an individual worker. It then outlines in a step-wise manner how trend analysis using a relatively large exposure database can be used to estimate such exposure. The process of how a large database containing exposure measurements can be prepared for estimating historic occupational exposures of individual workers in relation to their illnesses is described. The asbestos subset from a large government collected air monitoring database called Medical Surveillance (MESU) was selected to illustrate the cleaning and analysis processes. After unidentifiable values were removed, the cleaned dataset was examined for possible sources of variability such as changes to sampling protocol. Limit of detection (LOD) values were substituted for all non-detectable values prior to the calculation of descriptive statistic using left censored analysis methods (i.e., maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), Kaplan Meier (KM), and simple substitution). The JoinPoint Regression Program was used to perform trend analysis and calculate an annual percentage change (APC) value for the available sampling period. An asbestos case study is presented to illustrate how the APC can then be combined with more recent job and/or process specific exposure data to estimate historic levels. The MESU asbestos dataset contained 1,610 samples from 1984–1995. An average of 17% of this data was left censored. The asbestos air sampling methods in Ontario changed around 1990. LOD values of 0.06 f/cc and 0.02 f/cc were substituted for LOD values pre- and post-1990, respectively. The annual mean fiber levels for the MLE method were an average of 44% lower than KM and substitution methods. The corresponding APC for MLE method was −6.5% and −7.7% for KM and simple substitution. The findings of this paper illustrate how the temporal trend of an exposure databases can be used to efficiently estimate historic contaminant levels in the presence of limited historical information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the large number of workers in the construction industry, it is important to derive accurate and valid estimates of cancer risk, and in particular lung cancer risk. In most previous studies, risks among construction workers were compared with general populations including blue and white collar workers. The main objectives of this study were to assess whether construction workers experience excess lung cancer risk, and whether exposure to selected construction industry exposures carries excess risks. We wished to address these objectives within the sub-population of blue collar workers.Methods: Two case-control studies were conducted in Montreal. Combined, they included 1593 lung cancer cases and 1427 controls, of whom 1304 cases and 1081 controls had been blue collar workers. Detailed lifetime job histories were obtained and translated by experts into histories of exposure to chemical agents. The two key analyses were to estimate odds ratio (OR) estimates of lung cancer risk: a) for all blue-collar construction workers compared with other blue-collar workers, and b) for construction workers exposed to each of 20 exposure agents found in the construction industry compared with construction workers unexposed to those agents. All analyses were conducted using unconditional logistic regression adjusted for socio-demographic factors and smoking history.Results: The OR for all construction workers combined was 1.11 (95 % CI: 0.90-1.38), based on 381 blue collar construction workers. Analyses of specific exposures were hampered by small numbers and imprecise estimates. While none of 20 occupational agents examined was significantly associated with lung cancer, the following agents manifested non-significantly elevated ORs: asbestos, silica, Portland cement, soil dust, calcium oxide and calcium sulfate.Conclusions: Compared with other blue collar workers, there was only a slight increased risk of lung cancer for subjects who ever held an occupation in the construction industry. The analyses of agents within the construction industry produced imprecise estimates of risk, but nevertheless pointed to some plausible associations. Excess risks for asbestos and silica were in line with previous knowledge. The possible excess risks with the other inorganic dusts require further corroboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Continuous increase in male incidence of malignant mesothelioma of the pleura (MMP) despite the drop of asbestos production since 1980 in Québec motivated this study aiming to assess when the rates of MMP will decline. Methods Age-standardized rates and trends were estimated over the 1984-2007 period by sex for Québec versus 'Canada-excluding-Québec' (Can-Qc). An age-cohort regression was used to make projections for 2008-2032. Results Average rates of MMP in Québec men and women were significantly higher than in Can-Qc. Projected rates peak between 2003 and 2012 in all four study populations and decline thereafter. Conclusion The higher MMP rates and observed/projected time patterns in Québec men are consistent with past asbestos production and occupational exposures. The excess in Québec women may also be explained by domestic and, for some, by neighborhood exposures. To pursue the decrease in MMP rates beyond 2032, efforts to reduce asbestos exposure should be maintained. Am. J. Ind. Med. 58:473-482, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The publication of an article on the global asbestos industry in April 2011 provided a fitting reminder of the contradictory forces engaged in the international struggle over asbestos. In his essay, author James Rice wrote: "Asbestos is now widely recognized as an occupational hazard and an ambient environmental contaminant.. [Nevertheless] production and consumption appear to have stabilized and, indeed, have been increasing in recent years." A pertinent question to ask, and one often posed by ban-asbestos campaigners, is, why has the developing world seen an escalation of asbestos consumption in the face of ever more knowledge about the deadly risks associated with its use? After all, human beings have an extraordinary capacity to learn from their mistakes. A child who has burned his finger on an open flame will be wary of repeating the experience. Why, then, do governments, consumers, workers, and members of the public refrain from acting, when the dangers of not doing so are so widely known? The answer is to be found in the complex interaction of asbestos industry stakeholders, government officials, diplomatic representatives, politicians, and professional advisors; the dirty dealings engaged in by the global band of asbestos profiteers rival anything you will have read about "Big Tobacco." A good place to begin the unraveling of the industry's machinations is Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the ban for the use and mining of asbestos as being applied by various countries. The global use of asbestos hovered around 4.3-4.7 million metric tons per year when Iceland banned most of its forms in 1983. Madhumita Dutta, a member of the Occupational Health and Environment Network of India, says that India has banned tremolite and amosite, but the use of chrysotile is still widespread. It adds that public pressure has nearly removed the use of asbestos in Canada, but the country continues to export chrysotile in some countries such as India. The U.S. still imported 1,460 metric tons of chrysotile from Canada in 2008 despite of its effort to stop the mining of asbestos in 2002. It stresses the efforts to push Canada and the U.S. for a complete ban of asbestos.

The article focuses on the role of Canada in promoting the use of asbestos and asbestos-containing products. It states that the Canadian government is engaged in a foreign policy for promoting the use of asbestos both domestically and internationally. It also discusses the hundred years of Canadian asbestos discourse, the ventures to protect the Industry, and shaping a grim future for importing asbestos countries.

An essay on the export of asbestos by Canada is presented. The role Canada plays in the export of asbestos is approached through a discussion of the nature of asbestos production and trade, the political and economic forces driving the transfer of Canadian asbestos to the periphery countries, and the extent to which the transfer contributes to the health and safety risks in the periphery. The author concludes with recommendations on what can be done to address the problem.

Objectives: Canadian chrysotile (white asbestos) could be a paradigm for those agents that are successfully exploited commercially long after they have been found to be lethal. Mining started in the late 1870s, and reports of disability and death followed in Britain (1898), in France (1906), and Italy (1908), but it was not until 1955 that Canada acknowledged asbestos is in its asbestos miners and millers. Even when shortly after asbestos was shown to be carcinogenic, Canadian Public Relations experts assisted by their scientists exculpated chrysotile by deeming other agents to have been causal. Results: The PR techniques that have been successfully used in the defense of chrysotile are reviewed, to forewarn scientists involved in formulating public health policy for similar agents, as to the tricks that will be played on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current occupational exposures to chemical agents were assessed as part of an epidemiological study pertaining to the cancer and mortality patterns of Ontario construction workers. The task-based exposure assessment involved members from nine construction trade unions. Air samples were taken using personal sampling pumps and collection media. A DustTrak direct-reading particulate monitor was also employed. Exposure assessments included measurements of airborne respirable, inhalable, total, and silica dust; solvents; metals; asbestos; diesel exhaust and man-made mineral fibers (MMMF). In total, 396 single- or multi-component (filter/tube), 798 direct-reading, and 71 bulk samples were collected. The results showed that Ontario construction workers are exposed to potentially hazardous levels of chemical agents. The findings are similar to those reported by other researchers, except for silica exposure. In our study, silica exposure is much lower than reported elsewhere. The difficulty associated with assessing construction workers' exposures is highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the sustainable development implications of the World Trade Organization (WTO) asbestos dispute and the application of the precautionary principle in the WTO law. Analysis of the link between WTO law and other legal systems, especially European treaties and jurisprudence; Analysis of decisions in the asbestos dispute involving France and Canada; Canada's challenge of the French government's total ban on chrysotile or white asbestos.

Reports on the dispute in the World Trade Organization between European communities and Canada over a French ban on the import of asbestos and asbestos-containing products in 1996. Background on the dispute; Analysis of a French decree that bans toxic products; Relevance of asbestos toxicity to the discussion on international trade.

To understand the reasons for underreporting of occupational cancers, we investigated cases' perceptions of the causes of cancer. As part of a case-control study in the province of British Columbia, Canada, 105 bladder cancer cases, 48 nasal cancer cases, 51 mesothelioma cases, and 159 population-based controls (frequency matched to cases on age and sex) were interviewed using structured questions about their smoking, medical, residential, occupational, and carcinogen exposure histories. We asked cases what they thought caused their disease, and asked population controls about their understanding of the etiologies of the three cancers. Most cases and controls (69%) indicated that they had ''no idea about causes, with the exception that the majority of mesothelioma cases (70%) recognized asbestos as a cause. Smoking was perceived as a cause of bladder cancer by 21 percent of cases. Many cases knew about the asbestos and smoking etiologies from discussions with their physicians. Chemicals were commonly cited as causes of nasal and bladder cancer, but very few specific known or probable carcinogens for these sites were named. Cases (12%) more frequently than controls (2%) thought prior disease or trauma was a cause for all three types of cancer. Other etiologic factors less frequently listed by subjects included environmental pollution, hereditary factors, drugs, and radiation. Most cases recognized the major cause of mesothelioma, but few subjects knew about lifestyle or occupational causes of bladder cancer or nasal cancer, suggesting that education about the multiple cancer risks of smoking and about occupational carcinogens needs to be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the debate about whether asbestos should be banned worldwide. Discussion of opinions regarding health risks of asbestos, which range from the belief that it is extremely carcinogenic to the belief that the evidence is ambiguous; How Canadian scientists' objectivity has been questioned because of Canada's asbestos mining industry; Opinion that an impartial panel should be gathered to decide the issue.

Despite numerous studies of asbestos workers in the epidemiologic literature, there are very few cohort studies of chrysotile asbestos miners/millers that include high-quality retrospective exposure assessments. As part of the creation of the Baie Verte Miners' Registry in 2008, a two-dimensional job exposure matrix (JEM) was developed for estimating asbestos exposures for former chrysotile asbestos miners/millers. Industrial hygiene data collected between 1963 and 1994 were analysed to assess validity for use in a retrospective exposure assessment and epidemiologic study. Registered former employees were divided into 52 exposure groups (EGs) based on job title and department and mean asbestos concentrations were calculated for each EG. The resulting exposure estimates were linked to individual registrants' work histories allowing for the calculation of cumulative asbestos exposure for each registrant. The distribution of exposure for most EGs (82.6%) could be described as fitting a log-normal distribution, although variability within some EGs (55%) exceeded a geometric standard deviation (GSD) of 2.5. Overall, the data used to create EGs in the development of the JEM were deemed to be of adequate quality for estimating cumulative asbestos exposures for the former employees of the Baie Verte asbestos mine/mill. The variability between workers in the same job was often high and is an important factor to be considered when using estimates of cumulative asbestos exposure to adjudicate compensation claims. The exposures experienced in this cohort were comparable to those of other chrysotile asbestos miners/millers cohorts, specifically Italian and Québec cohorts., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.)

Background: Silica and asbestos are recognized lung carcinogens. However, their role in carcinogenesis at other organs is less clear. Clearance of inhaled silica particles and asbestos fibers from the lungs may lead to translocation to sites such as the bladder where they may initiate carcinogenesis. We used data from a Canadian population-based case-control study to evaluate the associations between these workplace exposures and bladder cancer., Methods: Data from a population-based case-control study were used to characterize associations between workplace exposure to silica and asbestos and bladder cancer among men. Bladder cancer cases (N = 658) and age-frequency matched controls (N = 1360) were recruited within the National Enhanced Cancer Surveillance System from eight Canadian provinces (1994-97). Exposure concentration, frequency and reliability for silica and asbestos were assigned to each job, based on lifetime occupational histories, using a combination of job-exposure profiles and expert review. Exposure was modeled as ever/never, highest attained concentration, duration (years), highest attained frequency (% worktime) and cumulative exposure. Odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated using adjusted logistic regression., Results: A modest (approximately 20%) increase in bladder cancer risk was found for ever having been exposed to silica, highest attained concentration and frequency of exposure but this increase was not statistically significant. Relative to unexposed, the odds of bladder cancer were 1.41 (95%CI: 1.01-1.98) times higher among men exposed to silica at work for ≥27 years. For asbestos, relative to unexposed, an increased risk of bladder cancer was observed for those first exposed ≥20 years ago (OR:2.04, 95%CI:1.25-3.34), those with a frequency of exposure of 5-30% of worktime (OR:1.45, 95%CI:1.06-1.98), and for those with < 10 years of exposure at low concentrations (OR:1.75, 95%CI:1.10-2.77) and the lower tertile of cumulative exposure (OR:1.69, 95%CI:1.07-2.65). However, no clear exposure-response relationships emerged., Conclusions: Our results indicate a slight increase in risk of bladder cancer with exposure to silica and asbestos, suggesting that the effects of these agents are broader than currently recognized. The findings from this study inform evidence-based action to enhance cancer prevention efforts, particularly for workers in industries with regular exposure.

The microbial ecology and activity of serpentine deposits and associated hydrated minerals are largely unknown. Previous research has largely focused on microbial communities in active serpentinizing systems, whereas relatively little research has demonstrated the ability of serpentine deposits to host microbial communities after the cessation of serpentinization. Given the potential role of serpentinization reactions fueling primitive microbial metabolisms on early Earth and the identification of serpentine deposits on Mars, knowledge of these geobiological relationships and potential for serpentine to host extant microbial communities and preserve biosignatures is increasingly important for planetary exploration seeking signs of life. The selection of habitable sites most likely to yield putative biosignatures is crucial to mission success. In this study, we aimed to characterize, on the basis of both metabolic activity and taxonomic composition, the microbial communities hosted in two naturally co-occurring and mineralogically distinct substrates within the serpentine-rich Jeffrey Mine pit-igneous quartzofeldspathic intrusives and serpentinite. Detection of heterotrophic activity in both lithologies at 24°C, and in serpentinite at -5°C, demonstrated that each substrate had the ability to host a viable microbial community, at Mars-relevant temperatures. Targeted amplicon sequencing subsequently showed the presence of bacterial, fungal, and photosynthetic microbial communities in both substrates. Here, we have demonstrated the presence of a viable lithic microbial community within two rock types in the Jeffrey Mine and provided evidence that lithologies associated with serpentine deposits and proximal hydrated minerals have the ability to support diverse prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial colonization.

The author discusses the health threat associated by asbestos. He talks about the capability of asbestos to kill people since it is carcinogenic based on scientific evidence. He comments that Canada-based asbestos producer Parliament Hill are still producing the substance despite the scientific evidence. He also looks into the ethical and human rights issues on the export of asbestos.

This article reports on the continued exportation by Canada of chrysotile or white asbestos to developing countries. It notes the refusal of Canada to include chrysotile to a United Nations-sponsored list of controlled substances. Particular focus is given to Baljit Chadha's bid to transformed the closed Jeffrey Mine into an underground operation, along with the protests against the mine's reopening. According to Sugio Furuya of the Asian Ban Asbestos Network, there are poor or non-existent asbestos regulations in several Asian countries.

The article pays tribute to occupational epidemiologist John Corbett McDonald.

Information about several papers discussed during the meeting of the Health Canada-commissioned expert panel on the health risks of chrysotile asbestos in Canada is presented. Topics include the strong potential relationship on the exposure to chrysotile asbestos on the occurrence of lung cancer, pleural mesothelioma and peritoneal mesothelioma. Among the featured health experts during the meeting include Health Canada Chairman Trevor Ogden, officer Christelle Legault, and Alex Burdorf.

The article discusses the Canadian government's non-publication of the Safe Environments Program of Health Canada's report in the November 2007 discussion on the dose-response and toxicity of commercial chrysotile fibers in Montreal, Quebec. The author imparts that the Canadian government will release the report prior to the up coming Rotterdam Convention at the end of October 2008. The author also adds that its non-publication has created speculations on the inconsistency of their public position on chrysotile.

The article reports that the expert panel appointed by Health Canada is accusing the Canadian government of delaying the release of a scientific report regarding the health hazards of chrysotile asbestos. The author mentions that Trevor Ogden, editor-in chief of the "Annals of Occupational Hygiene," accuses the government misusing science for economic and political interests. It is also stated that Canada is the fifth-largest exported of chrysotile asbestos in the world which exports most of the products in 80 nations, including countries in Asia.

The article condemns the government of Canada due to its protection of its asbestos industry. The authors claim that the government is contributing to the illnesses and deaths of people in the developing world. It is stated that such poor countries do not have the capacity to use asbestos safely. The government has limited the use of asbestos in Canada but continues to be a major exporter of asbestos.

Editorial. Comments on the debate regarding health risks from asbestos. How Canada is a leading miner of asbestos among western countries; Call by the Collegium Ramazzini for a worldwide ban on the mining and use of asbestos; Opinion that the public health implications of asbestos need to be studied by an impartial group of experts.