Quebec to challenge U.S. ban on asbestos

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said the production, importation and use of the mineral will be phased out over a number of years.

Planned by the agency is a cut of 10% by August of next year, 18% in 1993 and 66% in 1996. The agency says there is no suitable substitution in about 6% of the uses.

Major health concerns have been raised about asbestos, which has been linked to cancer.

Canadian production of asbestos in 1988 totalled 705,000 tonnes, with Quebec producers accounting for about 75% of that amount. About 98% of all Canadian asbestos production is exported, Michel Prevost of the Asbestos Institute in Montreal said. About 11% of the exports are to the U.S., with Quebec accounting for about 90% of that total.

The Quebec minister responsible for mines, Raymond Savoie, called the EPA move political and said the ruling is contrary to opinion being expressed by international experts.

Savoie said the position taken by the experts, which is shared by the Quebec government, is that control of the use of asbestos, not its banishment, is the best way to protect workers, the general population and the environment.

According to Savoie, the danger of the U.S. decision is that other countries which use asbestos may be persuaded to introduce similar restrictions.

The federal government issued a press release along the same lines as Quebec. “Asbestos is the most studied hazardous substance in commercial use and most governments around the world and international bodies, such as the International Labour Organization and the World Health Organization, favor the controlled-use approach,” said Jake Epp, minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Canada.

Epp said that earlier this year, the two global organizations mentioned above convened meetings concerning asbestos issues. The conclusions, he said, lent additional international weight to Canada’s position of controlled use.

Use of asbestos in both Canada and the U.S. has been in decline. However, growth has been experienced in other parts of the world, particularly in Third World countries, where water pipes made from asbestos cement have proved to be popular.

(Health problems with the mineral have been linked to inhalation of asbestos fibres, for example, from sprayed asbestos insulation. Used in cement form, the fibres are said by the industry to be confined and present far less of a health concern.)

The world’s largest producer of asbestos (4.1 million tonnes in 1988), is the U.S.S.R., but Prevost said that country consumes about 80% of its own production, making Canada the world’s largest exporter of the mineral.

Quebec has two asbestos producers, LAB Chrysotile and JM Asbestos. Two other much smaller Canadian producers are Cassiar Mining in British Columbia and Baie Verte Mines in Newfoundland.

According to Quebec’s ministry of energy and resources, the province’s two major markets for asbestos exports are Asia and western Europe.

Quebec’s asbestos exports rose by 5.6% in 1988 from the year before, the first such increase in nine years. Export sales of the mineral in 1988 earned Quebec about $190.3 million, up almost 11% from the previous year.

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