The Canadian government has just announced a ban on asbestos

Four Liberal cabinet ministers had just announced the comprehensive ban, which comes following years of lobbying by unions and public health advocates and long after other developed countries, including the entire European Union.

There is irrefutable evidence that has led us to take concrete action to ban asbestos,” said Science Minister Kirsty Duncan.

“Today is the first step to ban asbestos — its manufacture, its export, its import — and we hope to do this, we will do this, by 2018.”

There will also be new workplace health and safety rules, changes to the building code and an expanded inventory of public buildings that contain asbestos.

Source: Times Colonist

In 1899, Dr. Montague Murray noted the negative health effects of asbestos. The first documented death related to asbestos was in 1906.

The use of asbestos in new construction projects has been banned for health and safety reasons in many developed countries or regions, including the European Union, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, and New Zealand. A notable exception is the United States, where asbestos continues to be used in construction such as cement asbestos pipes.

Source: Wikipedia

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