this article is reported at the Korean national daily 'Han-Kyo-Re' on June 30.

The carcinogen exporter, Canada.

Asbestos is a class one carcinogen and hazardous substance that has been banned by 54
countries. For this reason when asbestos is exported, the information that it is a cancer-causing substance should be provided to the importing country. The Rotterdam Convention is the international treaty dealing with this issue.

This year, the Conference of the Parties to this Convention was held in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20 ? 24. Three kinds of agricultural pesticides were going to be listed, along with chrysotile asbestos. Being put on the list creates an obligation that requires exporting countries to provide information to the importing country that the substance is hazardous.. But asbestos alone was excluded from the list, mainly because of Canada’s
opposition. Canada has been one of the largest exporters of chrysotile asbestos. Almost all of the asbestos Canada exports goes to Asia, particularly India and Indonesia. Canada, however, does not use asbestos at all in its country, because workers and citizens do not want to use this dangerous carcinogen.

Lately Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education chose 100 kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools from 6 provinces in Korea for asbestos investigation. The result shows that as many as 96 schools contain asbestos in ceiling tiles and toilet partitions etc. It is natural to raise concerns about asbestos exposure for the students and teachers. For this reason, a daily newspaper showed its concern in an editorial titled ‘asbestos problem at schools is more serious than the college tuition fee issue’, which is a hot social and political issue in Korea. Now it should be revealed that most of the chrysotile asbestos used in schools came from Canada. According to government figures, Canadian chrysotile asbestos represents over 60% (440,000 tonnes) of the total import for the 17 years between 1991 and 2007.

In Korea, cancer is the 1st cause of death and among all cancers, lung cancer is the most fatal one. When people are exposed to asbestos, fatal cancers such as lung cancer,
mesothelioma and other serious lung diseases can occur. Asbestos has been known as a dangerous substance for a long time. Use of asbestos has been banned in Europe since the early 1980s. But Canada has kept on producing and exporting, while not using asbestos itself. Canada has not informed importing countries that it is a hazardous substance before and will never do so; this is the conclusion of the 2011 Rotterdam Convention Conference.

Recently the Quebec government offered financial support for a new asbestos mine in Quebec. Every year 200,000 tons of the carcinogen is going to be produced and exported to Asia. Canadian exploitation of the need for cheap construction materials for the poor in Asia has caused tens of thousands of Asian lives to be lost through occupational and environmental diseases. This problem is a hot social issue in Canada now. Medical professionals as well as human rights activists and environmental groups are criticizing the government's unethical policy and demanding that the government 'stop exporting death'. In particular, Canadian labor unions have changed their longtime support for the
asbestos industry and have called for an end to asbestos export. Last December an Asian delegation with an asbestos victim and a bereaved family member visited Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa. When their voices were reported by local and national media, Canadian civil and professional societies began to speak up about this problem, which they had ignored before. Many citizen groups are carrying out campaigns on this issue and a lot of letters of appeal have been sent to the Canadian prime minister from abroad
as well.

For many Koreans, Canada is an advanced country with a particularly clean environment. And many Korean students study there. Now, the Canadian government and the asbestos industry should abandon the narrow-minded selfishness of asbestos export and be a true member of the international society. Canada should apologize and assist the Asian asbestos victims.

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Yeyong CHOI
A vice-coordinator for Asian Ban Asbestos Network (A-BAN)

Director of Asian Citizen’s Center for Environment and Health