Asbestos is a long known carcinogen causally related to asbestos, lung cancer and mesothelioma (a rare and fatal disease.) A major effort has been underway internationally to ban asbestos as the epidemic of asbestos disease continues to be rampant. Injured workers and their families have inundated workers' compensation system throughout the US highlighting insufficiencies in the system to provide adequate benefits and straining the traditional tort system.
In an editorial the paper stated, "The day should be long gone when a civilized society such as Quebec's knowingly sells a carcinogenic substance - asbestos - to a poorer, developing country such as India."" In an interview with an Indian publication in December, New Democratic Party MP Pat Martin said, 'Asbestos and tobacco are the two industries where the industry knows well it is killing people, but it survives by junk science and aggressive lobbying of politicians.'"
"A coalition of more than 100 scientific experts from 28 countries sent a letter to Charest [Quebec's Premier] last week, on the eve of his trade-mission visit to India, pointing out that Quebec is facing an uspurge of asbestos-related illness. Asbestos is to blame, the province's workers' compensation board says, in 60 per cent of the 104 cases of Quebec workers who died from work-related causes in a seven-month period last year."
