ASBESTOS: Canadian ban to take effect 2018

OTTAWA – The Canadian government is set to ban the manufacture, use, import and export of asbestos by 2018. The ban will be implemented under terms of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The government promises to use science-based decision making and consultation with partners to implement the ban. At the same time, the government plans to establish new federal health and safety rules to drastically limit exposure to asbestos on the job. The list of asbestos containing federal buildings is to be expanded. Awareness of the health and safety impacts of asbestos will be raised. Furthermore, the federal government pledges to work with the provincial and territorial governments to change applicable building codes to prohibit the use of asbestos in new or renovation projects. This country’s international position on asbestos will also be updated before next year’s Rotterdam Convention meeting. Asbestos was declared a human carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer in 1987.  The inhalation of airborne asbestos fibres can cause lung damage, including lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.