On Monday (20th) in Geneva, representatives of the 143 countries belonging to United Nations-sponsored Rotterdam Convention, regulating hazardous chemicals, are to begin a meeting where chrysotile, the type of asbestos fibre mined in Quebec, will be on the top of the list of new products to be regulated.

In the past, the Canadian government, allied with other chrysotile producers, like Russia and Zimbabwe, have blocked chrysotile’s inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention’s PIC designation – meaning prior informed consent must be given before such a product in imported. Chrysotile is banned in the 27-country European Union and Australia and is severely regulated in Chile.

In an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, 48 Quebec doctors involved in public health have called on Canada to support the recommendation of the Rotterdam Convention’s chemical review committee, calling for chrysotile asbestos be listed in Annex III of the convention.

The recommendation notes that chrysotile is a known carcinogen and “there is general consensus among the scientific community that all types of asbestos fibres are carcinogenic ... and can cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma when inhaled.”

In an email, Environment Canada spokesman Mark Johnson suggested the federal government still has not decided its position for the international meeting.

“Canada is currently preparing its positions for the fifth conference of the parties of the Rotterdam Convention,” Johnson wrote. “Canada is committed to protecting the environment and human health from the potential risks of chemical substances and is committed to the safe global trade and proper management of hazardous substance.”

But in another email, Nicolas Rochette, a spokesman for Monique Gagnon-Tremblay, Quebec’s international relations minister, said Quebec would have representatives on the Canadian delegation in Geneva and would oppose inclusion of chrysotile in Annex III.

Melissa Lantsman, also from the federal environment department, said Canada’s delegation will be made up of “officials,” not ministers from both federal and Quebec governments.

In a recent review of available scientific evidence by Sir John Beddington, the British government’s chief scientific adviser, found that “on the evidence available, there is no justification for an imminent change to the international scientific consensus on the classification of chrysotile as a Class 1 carcinogen.”

In the letter to Harper, the Quebec doctors note that the recommendation to include chrysotile was made by “31 neutral scientific experts.”

“The whole medical and independent scientific community in Quebec, Canada and internationally is unanimous,” the letter continues. “As it is now used, chrysotile is a dangerous substance that carries a heavy burden of disease, such as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.

“Credible sources estimate there are more than 100,000 deaths a year in the world from asbestos-related disease,” the letter says.

It notes that Canada and a handful of countries have been blocking inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention of chrysotile for seven years, depriving importers of the cancer-causing fibre of a tool that might change their decision. It calls for Canada to make a responsible decision.

During the recent federal election campaign, Harper expressed support for the safe use of asbestos. The Bloc Québécois, while relied on support from the United Steelworkers of America, a union representing Quebec asbestos workers, also supported asbestos mining in the province.

The letter suggests that since Harper believes in the safe use of the fibre, “given its known danger, what is the problem with submitting it to the prior informed consent procedure of the Rotterdam Convention?”

(By Kevin Dougherty, Montreal Gazette, 14/06/2011)