Quebec’s National Director of Public Health, Dr. Alain Poirier, warned last week of the dangers of asbestos, remarking that Quebec’s Public Health Institute doesn’t hold that chrysotile asbestos can be safely used. Unfortunately, voices like Poirier’s don’t always carry far enough, as developing nations continue to import Quebec’s asbestos at alarming rates.

The position of “safe use” is a defense which many asbestos industry advocates stand behind, claiming that at relatively low concentrations the substance is harmless. While officials that support Quebec’s asbestos industry claim that one airborne asbestos fiber per cubic centimeter doesn’t pose any danger to human health, their figure differs greatly from those instituted in other parts of Canada and the world.

Other Canadian provinces, for example, hold that a concentration 1/10th of Quebec’s number poses a threat to human health, while European nations often recognize concentrations as dangerous that are 1/100th of Quebec’s figure. While the substance isn’t yet banned in America, the United States Environmental Protection Agency claims that there is no safe concentration, no matter how low.

Canadian doctors, scientists, and environmentalists agree that asbestos is unquestionably dangerous. In fact, many Canadian health organizations such as the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, and the Canadian Medical Association have recently expressed their disapproval of the industry in letters to Quebec’s Premier, Jean Charest. The Canadian government, however, is still divided with some important figures like Prime Minister Stephen Harper still supporting the industry.

Just a few months ago in March the government paid the Asbestos Institute, an asbestos industry lobby group, some $25 million in tax dollars – a move that Harper supported. The lobby group uses government funding to publish informational tracts promoting “safe use” and spouting misleading information that’s simply not supported by modern research. These tracts, brochures and informational booklets, as well as the Asbestos Institute’s other efforts, help pave the way to increased asbestos exports in a variety of developing nations.

Asbestos exposure has been conclusively linked to mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the protective lining of the organs. More than 90,000 people worldwide die of asbestos related diseases every year – entirely avoidable diseases which are often contracted in the workplace by unsuspecting workers unaware of asbestos’s dangers.

Organizations across the world, including the World Health Organization, call for a ban on asbestos mining. Even in Canada’s own backyard the consensus is unmistakable: the Canadian Public Health Association, the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medial Association, and even the nearly ten thousand doctors in the province of Quebec oppose the export of asbestos.

With mounting pressure both at home and abroad, hopefully the days of “safe use” will soon come to an end.