Health minister wrote of asbestos-cancer link
But Yves Bolduc’s letter doesn’t contradict government policy, spokesperson says
A few months before Premier Jean Charest’s cabinet approved a $58-million loan to restart the asbestos industry, Quebec’s health minister wrote that asbestos, tanning salons and cigarettes are all considered in the same category of “highest cancer risk to humans”.
In a letter to a cabinet colleague obtained by Le Soleil newspaper, Yves Bolduc made the comment in the context of his support for a petition by the Canadian Cancer Society calling for tighter regulations on minors using tanning salons. “In July of 2009, the International Agency for Research on Cancer put UV-emitting tanning beds in the category of the highest cancer risks to humans, at the same level as cigarettes or asbestos,” Bolduc wrote in a letter to government House Leader Jean-Marc Fournier four months ago.
On June 29th, 2012, the Lib- eral government announced it would grant a $58-million loan to the owners of the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine in Asbestos to enable an underground expansion and reopening of that mine.
Natacha Joncas Boudreau, Bolduc’s press attaché, confirmed Bolduc’s comments Friday, but said they are perfectly consistent with the government’s long-standing support of the asbestos industry.
“There is no contradiction, because nobody is denying there are risks involved with all three of these things, but none of them are banned or illegal. We put regulations in place to reduce risk and that is what we have done with tanning salons and with asbestos,” she said, adding the government brought in a law last month barring minors from tanning salons.
Quebec’s medical establishment has been calling for an end to Quebec’s use and export of asbestos, echoing calls by the World Health Organization and the Canadian Medical Association.
Dr. Fernand Turcotte, professor emeritus of public health and preventive medicine at Université Laval, said the minister’s comments are baffling.
“Restarting the Jeffrey Mine is a tragedy for human health across the planet,” he said.
“As for the minister’s comments, these are three sources of cancer that require very different types of intervention. In the case of asbestos, there is a clear, unanimous, international scientific consensus that the best course of action is to stop using it,” he said.
He noted there is some element of choice involved in using tanning beds and smoking (although he noted addiction complicates the notion of choice in the latter case), while asbestos is an environmental pollutant.
“Asbestos stopped being simply a workplace health hazard decades ago and is now a worldwide public health disaster,” he said.
He said government in- spectors should systematically tour all public buildings that contain asbestos to ensure they are safe. These buildings should also be clearly signed, so that workers are aware of the risk when renovations are required and so that those who frequent these buildings can take action when deterioration poses a health risk.
The Quebec natural resources minister’s assurances that companies in developing countries that buy Quebec’s asbestos will be informed and monitored, to ensure it is handled safely, are unconvincing, he said.