Jeffrey Mine Inc. has received a $3.5-million loan from the Canadian government agency Investissement Québec. The loan will be used to continue mining asbestos for one more month, while Jeffrey continues to recruit foreign investment.
Québec’s decision to help a sinking ship may baffle many, as it has long been common knowledge that asbestos is a toxic material, causing a plethora of deadly disease, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen also known as asbestos cancer. Because of said toxicity, the use of asbestos is illegal in 52 countries.
In Canada, “white gold” was once used in everything from pipe insulation to car brakes and modeling clay to talcum powder because it was resistant to fire, rust, rot and termites. Asbestos’ negative health effects have been known since the 1950’s. However, due to its wide-spread national use, Canada has one of the highest rates of asbestos-related cancer in the world, and asbestos is the cause of half of all workplace-related deaths in Quebec. This is not surprising, as asbestos-related disease is often fatal. Mesothelioma treatment, for example, requires surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but is incurable and usually has a life expectancy that rarely surpasses one year.
Asbestos in Canada is now strictly regulated under the Hazardous Products Act, and proper asbestos removal is very costly to the State. Yet Canada actively promotes the export of asbestos. Ottawa opposes the inclusion of asbestos in the Rotterdam Convention, a treaty on hazardous substances, and the Canadian Federal Government provides $250,000 a year to the Chrysotile Institute to sell asbestos abroad and propagandize it at home.
source: http://www.maacenter.org/news/canadian-asbestos-industry-dying-as-mesothelioma-cancer-worries-run-rampant.html
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