Sfl.Asbestos.Cathy Walker.Sept24.2008

The Politics of Asbestos: Canada’s Shame September 24, 2008 Saskatchewan Federation of Labour Regina Cathy Walker Former H&S Director, CAW

Asbestos: Killer Dust

We’ve known about the hazards of asbestos since the First Century

Pliny the Elder reported on Roman slaves having sickened lungs from weaving asbestos into cloth

Charlemagne used asbestos napkins, 800 AD

He threw soiled napkins into the fire and they came out clean

Insurance companies stopped issuing life insurance to asbestos workers

Cape Asbestos plant in London, England, 1910

Asbestos insulation sprayers, 1960s and 70s

Union went to Dr. Irving Selikoff: New York and New Jersey asbestos sprayers

Selikoff Examined 1,117 asbestos insulation workers

More than 50% already had asbestosis determined by X-Rays

For those exposed more than 20 years, 339 of 392 (87%) had asbestosis

Lung cancers were 7 times the expected rate

Gastrointestinal cancers were 3 times the expected rate

Asbestos stopped being used as sprayed on insulation, halfway through building the World Trade Centre buildings

But of course there was still lots of asbestos in the September 11, 2001 dust

Do you have to be covered in dust to die from asbestos?

The answer is “no”

Professors CAUT employed at the University of Manitoba have died from asbestos exposure

Where is asbestos in your workplace?

If you don’t know, find out

Where is asbestos likely to be found?

In this workplace it’s in the cladding around the building.

But it can be almost anywhere

Around beams

Ceilings (used for noise as well as fire insulation)

In insulation

Deteriorated insulation

Around Boilers

Around Pipes

Asbestos Cement

In Ceiling Tiles

Canadian school, 2002

In floor tiles

When asbestos deteriorates it becomes “friable” (crumbly)

When it becomes friable it is released into the air and you can breathe it in

You can also ingest it

What is asbestos?

It is a “natural” fibre found in the ground

It is mined and processed and used to be used in a wide variety of products

Two main Asbestos groups

Amphiboles (straight fibres)

Serpentine (curly fibres)

There’s not really a lot of difference

Amphiboles

Crocidolite

Amosite

Serpentine

Chrysotile:

95% of world asbestos

Includes Canadian asbestos:

Excellent Insulation

It is a nearly perfect product for insulation

It is fireproof and virtually indestructible

Great for brake pads and many other products

Indestructible everywhere

These indestructible asbestos fibres stay in your lungs forever

Asbestos fibres in lung tissue

They are inhaled deep into the lung into the tiny air sacs where oxygen is transferred into the bloodstream

Asbestos fibres are so tiny there are a million of them in three centimetres

At the cell level your body tries to protect you from the invading fibres

Macrophage engulfing an asbestos fibre

And scarring results

What diseases are caused by asbestos?

Asbestosis (scarring of the lungs) from high exposures

This is what your lung is supposed to look like

Not like this

Today, asbestosis is not an issue for most union members since exposures are not that high

For union members, the major risk is from cancer

Which cancers? – a variety

Cancer is an issue for even low exposures

Why?

We are all made up of cells

Cancer: damage to a single cell starts the clock ticking

Ingest asbestos fibres into our gastrointestinal system

Gastrointestinal cancer

Colon cancer is a common cancer

We can breathe in asbestos fibres

Main asbestos related cancers are:

Lung Cancer

Mesothelioma

This is lung cancer

Mesothelioma

Of the lining around the lung, pleural mesothelioma

Of the lining around the abdomen, peritoneal mesothelioma (risk is from high exposure)

Mesothelioma is always associated with asbestos

And, unfortunately, it is fatal, usually within 6-12 months

Pleural Mesothelioma

Tumour in the lining of the lung

It crushes the life out of you

There is no cure

Often 30 to 45 years after exposure

They can operate and take out some ribs and part of your lung to let the tumour grow

How much is too much?

Very small amounts over many years can cause mesothelioma

Large amounts over a short period (a few weeks) can cause mesothelioma

One bad fire: apparently enough

The downtown Air Canada Toronto reservations office had a fire resulting in asbestos insulation falling on clerks’ desks

They had to return to work before it was cleaned up

A CAW member contracted mesothelioma years later and she died

Pleural Plaques

Always associated with asbestos exposure

You’re not sick yet

Early warning sign

Family members of asbestos workers

Asbestos exposure from hugging, washing clothes

Some contract pleural plaques

Some contract mesothelioma, eg. 14 year old son of a CAW member. He died at 16.

1979 study:

679 wives and children

39% had signs of asbestos scarring on lungs

Signs and Symptoms of asbestos disease

Shortness of breath

Chest pain

Visible on X-Ray

Confirmed at autopsy

Lung cancer – at this stage may be no signs and symptoms

But what about smoking?

Risk of lung cancer from asbestos is 5 times the general population

Risk of lung cancer from smoking is 10 times the general population

Risk of lung cancer from smoking combined with asbestos exposure is 50-90 times the general population

So how do we protect union members?

Work closely with the health and safety committee members

Skilled trades workers are often most at risk

They have to work in asbestos-containing areas

So they need to know where the asbestos is

We have banned the use of asbestos in major collective agreements

We now have to bargain its safe, effective removal

Work refusals lead to action on asbestos

At airports throughout Canada

CAW members exercised their right to refuse unsafe work under the Canada Labour Code

Through the courage of these women union members, they protected themselves, their fellow workers and the public

Is there a map?

There should be a map of where asbestos is found in each workplace

But we can’t always trust it

If people are working on the ceiling of your work area and dust is falling, insist it be analyzed for asbestos

Insist on asbestos removal by knowledgeable firms and workers

Proper Asbestos Removal

Complete enclosure of the asbestos removal area by sealed plastic

Only trained asbestos removal workers to be in the asbestos removal area

Negative pressure in removal area so no asbestos fibres escape

What about encapsulation (covering the asbestos)?

Eventually, all asbestos will become friable

Every time it is disturbed, it gets into the air

Remove it competently and the problem is solved

If the building is going to be torn down in the near future, crumbly asbestos can be encapsulated

Asbestos continues to kill Francis Huggett: $102,450 plus pension; rep Karen Willsey

Closed in 1988, legacy of death lives on.

Holmes Foundry Claims

But what about Canada’s export of asbestos?

The Asbestos Institute promotes chrysotile asbestos as “safe”

Where is our asbestos used in developing countries?

Everybody needs clean water, right?

But these pipes deteriorate and break, releasing asbestos

And usually we export only raw asbestos so someone had to mix the asbestos and the cement, usually by hand

And asbestos is used in roofs of houses and huts where it crumbles directly onto the people who live there

Where is this asbestos roof?

Asbestos bags leak

Brazilian worker breaking open asbestos bags

Asbestos use in Peru: half is from Canada

Canadian asbestos in Peru

Working with Asbestos in Peru

Funeral: Asbestos Deaths in Peru

Asbestos Use in India

How little protection there is in developing countries for either workers or for the general population.

Ahmedabad, Gujarat India

Manager of an asbestos factory: “Our factory is so safe that our workers do not need to wear masks.”

The factory has received an ISO 9002 rating from a British company.

Broken asbestos pieces are used to fill up areas as driveways where vehicles enter the distribution area.

There is a water spray on the blade of the circular saw but the worker’s hair is white with asbestos.

These next pictures are from Pakistan

From a presentation by Laurie Kazan-Allen from the UK with photos from Noor Jehan of Pakistan

Assistant Professor Noor Jehan standing with a worker beside an asbestos dump at the Asbestos, Talc and Clay Crushing unit in Mohmand Agency, Pakistan.

Asbestos sheet cutting unit in Mardan City (NWFP) located on the main road in a residential area.

Inside this building is a flour mill; while outside is an asbestos crushing machine and an asbestos dump. The man in the picture has worked for 8 years on this machine and was not convinced of any hazard related to asbestos inhalation or its mixing with flour produced inside the building.

Why does Canada support the production of asbestos?

Isn’t is unconscionable?

How can our federal government oppose asbestos bans in other countries, including bringing a complaint against the French asbestos ban to the WTO?

To understand the position of the federal government, you have to understand the history of the union movement in Québec

Québec, mining asbestos since 1879

No protection in the early days, King mine 1896

Women also had no protection, 1930 Johnson mine

Yet in 1911, insurance companies stopped insuring asbestos workers

Because they were dying of asbestosis and cancer

This is a recent asbestos miner showing his X-Ray

In Asbestos and in Thetford Mines the towns were adjacent to the mines and tailings. St.-Maurice parish, 1950

1949, Premier Maurice Duplessis ruled Québec

Le drapeau fleurdelisé, adopté par Maurice Duplessis le 21 janvier 1948

Duplessis, nationalist or imposter?

Fascist or statesman?

In 1949, miners in Quebec were prepared to fight back

Miners in Asbestos and Thetford Mines fought back

Against the U.S. corporation, Johns Manville

Against the Roman Catholic Church

And especially, against Maurice Duplessis

They fought for four months

The issues were wages, but especially, working conditions, protection from the killer dust, asbestos

Asbestos Strike Québec, 1949

Asbestos Strike, 1949 Who was there?

Jean Marchand, union leader

Gérard Pelletier, journalist with Le Devoir

1949 - 1951, conseiller au Conseil privé

What did the workers think?

Globe and Mail, headline, Oct. 2, 2000:

“ Pierre Elliott Trudeau, 1919-2000, Still a hero in Quebec after all these years”

Rosaire Drouin, miner, speaking of Trudeau,

“ He was sort of the ambassador for the union. He explained to us our rights against Duplessis." “

“ He defended the workers. He was good for Quebec and Canada. It's a long time since we've seen a good one like that."

Duplessis sent Archbishop Charbonneau to BC because he supported the strikers

1949’s legacy remains. Debating anti-scab legislation in Parliament, October 21, 2003:

Mr. André Bachand (Richmond—Arthabaska, PC)

“ I am from Asbestos.”…

“ The scabs were the main problem during the strike of 1949 in Asbestos. I am not going to call them “strikebreakers” or “replacement workers”; they were scabs. There were fights, and the provincial police were there.”

Québec sovereignty movement Quiet Revolution really began in 1949 with the Asbestos Strike

Québec miners 1975

As you can hear in this CBC Radio clip, patients suffering from asbestos-related illnesses experience shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and persistent coughing often excreting blood:

CBC Radio clip: 1975, Thetford Mines, Paul Brodeur, etc. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-75-608-3400/science_technology/asbestos/clip2

Québec mines cleaned up considerably after the PQ nationalized the mines

Excellent ventilation

Protective measures

Still a risk at work, but not an enormous one as before

Tailings are still there Thetford Mines, 2002

Just Transition Needed

Relocation assistance for miners and residents

Retraining for workers

Income continuity

Pensions

These countries all have some form of asbestos ban:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil (4 states), Chile, Croatia, Denmark, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay

How can we export death to the third world?