Asbestos sold to India

Canadian Asbestos is being sold to India and causing people harm. Melissa Fung of the CBC just reported on Peter Mansbridge that our country, which has banned asbestos because it can not be utilized safely, has been supporting the asbestos industry by donating $20 million dollars.

Ms. Fung questions why Canada is actively removing asbestos from its own House of Commons has deemed it acceptable to sell the product to a developing country that does not have the means to use it safely. Many people are dying right now, slowly and painfully, some required to work to continue paying for medication to treat asbestosis.

This desease causes respiratory illnesses that will cripple someone. They live short, painful lives cause explicitly by working with asbestos. The dust is breathed in and damages the alveoli in the lungs, reducing lung capacity and function. Indians cough themselves to death.

Asbestos is mined in Québec, and thought it is a dwindling industry we keep it alive and even subsidize it. Both the Liberal and Conservative parties have provided funding while in power and I think that it is likely due to the political land mine that is the province of Québec.

The CBC reports that the asbestos being installed in Indian buildings, and may harm the public for a hundred years. It will break the Guiness Book of World Records mark for more people suffering from asbestosis. We are allowing a company from our country to profit from the deaths of these people. We are the only government out of the top 40 industrialized nations to do so. We are morally wrong.

I believe that it is our duty as citizens of this world to put an end to this practice. It is unethical in that it harms others, and hypocritical in that we won’t use it ourselves. This is not a political issue, and if somebody decides to make it one I believe that that person lets other motivations take priority, such as career or financial gain.

We as a nation must be firm. We are a good, decent people, who do what is right. Our place in the world depends on the decisions we take, the ideals that we uphold, and the respect we have for other countries. Canadians put a premium on morality. Let us do so now.

For more information go to http://archives.cbc.ca/ and type in asbestos in a few days to watch the report.

GOYA! Start Listening!