Canada Sells Deadly Asbestos to developing nations

[Jim]

Just thought I'd put this up here in case anyone else felt like sending a message to the PM of Canada and others about selling asbestos to 3rd world countries when we won't use it here...

http://www.rightoncanada.ca/take_action/

News story
http://www.cbc.ca/national/blog/video/healtheducation/canadas_ugly_secret.html

[lego1970]

Everytime you turn your back, there goes the Canadians. You just can't trust those guys up there. :P

[Jim]

No doot aboot it eh :wink:

Speaking of Canadians, and Americans, has anyone seen the movie Blue State... I don't think that really gave Canada a fair representation...

[suprf1y]

The danger of asbestos is overblown.
Just because we don't use it here, doesn't mean it's all that bad.
Cigarettes and alcohol are more dangerous than asbestos :P

[Jim]

The danger of asbestos is overblown.
Just because we don't use it here, doesn't mean it's all that bad.
Cigarettes and alcohol are more dangerous than asbestos :P

It may be overblown in your opinion, but it is still known to be dangerous and cause pain and suffering, why should we as a country pawn this off on a developing nation?

As far as cigarettes go, the only benefit to them is in tax dollars, but that is negated by the cost of health care provided due to smoke and second hand smoke, and other costs, such as when a careless smoker flicks a butt and starts a forest fire. Not to mention that smokers don't feel that throwing their butts everywhere they feel is littering.

[suprf1y]

If we stopped selling everything that's dangerous, we wouldn't sell anything.
Asbestos is like staffordshire terriers.
It was banned out of hysteria. It can be used safely.

[Jim]

That may be the case, but in the developing nations, where we drop it, they don't have the safety standards and don't treat it that way. It's not as if it isn't banned here. It is, we just don't feel bad promoting it and selling it to the 3rd world... I'm not an expert on asbestos (see my signature, that applies to everything), I just don't see how you can justify promoting passing on the pain, suffering, disease, and so on to third world countries, in the name of the all mighty dollar? Surely there is alternatives we could sell them, we obviously have alternatives here... And not everything is dangerous, but there are also degrees of danger, I just don't see your argument on this one... I know you like riding in shorts and a tshirt, and like to promote that, but that's different then selling a hazardous material.

[suprf1y]

I just don't see your argument on this one..

Thats funny.
You did when you said

That may be the case,

I know you like riding in shorts and a tshirt, and like to promote that,

How that has anything to do with this, I don't know, but I rode like that once, in an unusual circumstance, and posted how surprised I was that it didn't make me as nervous as I had expected. In the same thread, I posted 3 times what my usual riding equipment is.
In that thread, the only thing I promoted, was that the youngster get rid of his old helmet, and get e new (safe) one, and that people wear what they feel safe in.

The really retarded thing about this asbestos thing, is that a lot of time, money and effort is spent removing asbestos from old buildings. The very act of this removal makes the asbestos far more dangerous than it ever would have been, if it were left alone.

Nearly 40,000 people die every year from motor vehicle accidents, here in N .America. Less than 1500 from Asbestosis.
Perspective is a beautiful thing.

[Jim]

I guess I should have said I don't see the basis for your argument? Ok maybe I remembered the discussion in that other topic incorrectly, sorry I brought it up... I agree with you about removing it though, that is very true, and they are or did remove it currently or not long ago from the parliament buildings... People die from everything, that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make things safer should it? We could remove the headlights, airbags, seat belts, and impact resistant engineering from vehicles if trying to make things safer was such a bad idea couldn't we? This isn't about stirring up old asbestos and removing it, it is only about selling new asbestos to 3rd world countries which don't have the safety regulations to keep their people safe from it...

[Reveeen]

that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to make things safer should it?

I'm sorry, your thinking is flawed. Those very same cars, loaded with the safety equipment you list, would be far, far, safer if limited to 30mph, but we aren't going to put up with that now, are we?

Asbestos, for the government(s), and environmental idiots, was an "easy hit". By an "easy hit" I mean: not too many people were affected, and those affected got to manufacture higher priced replacements.

You can say the same for coal, the dust from coal causes all kind of nasty stuff, but are we about to "ban" (or make significant noise) about it? Ah, no, because we currently use coal to generate electricity, and who is going to go without lights, or heat?

Asbestos, like coal, if handled correctly, is perfectly safe.

BTW: what do you think they are using in the brake/clutch linings of Chinese motorcycles? I can assure you it isn't "nice".

[lego1970]

I don't know if any of you guys work around Asbestos and I don't mean the stuff that's undisturbed or wrapped, I'm talking about cut up and disturbed Asbestos floating in the air. I do part-time and I worry about it, however right now I need this job so hopefully a couple months exposure won't have long lasting effects. Yes I wear face mask, but it gets in your clothing, car, hair, etc, etc. If you guys work around it and are not concerned, maybe you know something I don't, but if you don't work around disturbed Asbestos your comments don't hold much value. I don't mean that to sound rude or anything, but it's easy to downplay something when your not directly involved.

[Jim]

I don't know if any of you guys work around Asbestos and I don't mean the stuff that's undisturbed or wrapped, I'm talking about cut up and disturbed Asbestos floating in the air. I do part-time and I worry about it, however right now I need this job so hopefully a couple months exposure won't have long lasting effects. Yes I wear face mask, but it gets in your clothing, car, hair, etc, etc. If you guys work around it and are not concerned, maybe you know something I don't, but if you don't work around disturbed Asbestos your comments don't hold much value. I don't mean that to sound rude or anything, but it's easy to downplay something when your not directly involved.

I don't and I don't have any first hand experience with it either... It just seems to me from what I have heard and so on that it isn't really good stuff, so I figured it isn't too hard to put my name down, I am not an expert though.. I hope you don't have any long term health effects from it either. Your comment was not rude either.

[lego1970]

I don't know if any of you guys work around Asbestos and I don't mean the stuff that's undisturbed or wrapped, I'm talking about cut up and disturbed Asbestos floating in the air. I do part-time and I worry about it, however right now I need this job so hopefully a couple months exposure won't have long lasting effects. Yes I wear face mask, but it gets in your clothing, car, hair, etc, etc. If you guys work around it and are not concerned, maybe you know something I don't, but if you don't work around disturbed Asbestos your comments don't hold much value. I don't mean that to sound rude or anything, but it's easy to downplay something when your not directly involved.

I don't and I don't have any first hand experience with it either... It just seems to me from what I have heard and so on that it isn't really good stuff, so I figured it isn't too hard to put my name down, I am not an expert though.. I hope you don't have any long term health effects from it either. Your comment was not rude either.

Thanks. I'm just doing this job part-time for a few months and taking precautions so for the most part I feel ok about doing it short-term. I will agree with the other guys that probably most people who had Asbestosis or Meso? (can't spell) were probably around it a long time but I still wouldn't dismiss the warnings.