In March 2019, following years of discussions, Canada has introduced a ban on use, sale, import and export of asbestos.
Calls for the elimination of asbestos products within the domestic market have been supported by Canadian federal health and environment departments, citing mounting health-care costs for the treatments of asbestos related illnesses such as mesothelioma.
Estimating that exposure to asbestos fibres caused approximately 1,900 lung cancer cases and 430 mesothelioma cases in the country in 2011.
For more than 30 years, asbestos fibres have been recognised as hazardous to human health and well-being (World Health......
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Major lack of standards and regulations put students and teachers in danger of asbestos exposure.
According to The Joint Union Asbestos Committee (JUAC) almost 90% of schools contain asbestos, amplifying death rates for those working in these environments. The evidence shows that on a yearly basis 17 school employees die due to mesothelioma cancer.
Furthermore, the JUAC reveals that 1,863 academies in the UK contain asbestos. The dangerous substance is being continually uncovered, often found under the carpet, in ceilings and pipes – of these academies only 54 had been reported as of early......
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In the final part of our series on mesothelioma in Canada we're taking a look on how the disease is treated.
The large number of mesothelioma cases in Canada demands a medical system offering good treatment options for mesothelioma. Canada has a socialised medical insurance system, and it is generally believed that it is easier to get better care for rare diseases like mesothelioma in the United States than it is in Canada. In both countries, however, the treatment for the disease is the same.
Canadians generally explore one or a combination of three options......
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In the 1930s, a study conducted by the Department of Industrial Hygiene at McGill University discovered that, of 200 men who participated, 42 developed asbestosis. The department had been formed by The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, due to its suspicions that asbestos was sickening workers and causing some sort of “dust disease” of the lungs. However, the findings were never published and lawyers for asbestos manufacturers in Canada and the U.S. suggested to company executives that asbestosis receive “minimum publicity.” Continue Reading
After climbing steadily over the past two decades, Canada's mesothelioma cancer rate is now one of the highest in the world. Few in the medical community are surprised: Canada's dedication to the mining of chrysotile asbestos and the Canadian government's track record for permitting its production and use in thousands of products laid the groundwork for exposing citizens to the toxic mineral. The most significant increases occurred in the shipbuilding areas around Vancouver, and in Quebec, home to many of Canada's early asbestos mines.
About 2.1 of every 100,000 Canadians are diagnosed annually......
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