CANADIAN NEWS
Parliament's Pat Martin calls for an end to Canada’s asbestos exports

April 20, 2009 – Winnipeg MP Pat Martin has asked Canada’s House of Commons to declare April 1 an asbestos awareness day for asbestos-related diseases.

“We’ve fooled the world with phony science for too long,” said Martin.

Pat Martin introduces asbestos motion

The Winnipeg politician is also seeking an end to asbestos exports and improvements in health services for Canadians suffering from asbestos-related diseases, such as lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Pat Martin knows the dangers of occupational asbestos exposure firsthand. Prior to his political career, Martin, 53, worked throughout Northern and Western Canada in the worst asbestos-plagued industries, including the Thetford asbestos mines, the oil rigs, the forestry industry and construction -- unaware that working in such an environment could lead to fatal asbestos diseases.

Recent government statistics show that in 2005, 340 Canadians died as a result of asbestos exposure; this represented 61 percent of all occupational fatalities in Canada that year.

The Canadian Cancer Society is in full support of Martin’s motion and has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to set a timeline for phasing out the use and export of Canada’s chrysotile asbestos.

Canada last year exported more than $100 million of asbestos (some 200,000 tons) to developing nations that have lax or nonexistent regulations governing asbestos.

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Workers or family members who have been diagnosed with job-related asbestos disease and who wish to pursue financial compensation for medical bills and their family’s future well-being, can now file a lung cancer lawsuit with confidence, the kind of confidence that only a New York-proven asbestos-injury law firm like Weitz & Luxenberg can inspire.

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