HESO 449: Ecohealth SDS

Here is a recent article from the BBC about a student-led protest in India to stop the construction of an asbestos mine:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12354285

Asbestos is not the only example of a product that Canada has continued to process, despite widespread health effects. For instance, Canada has a long history of Uranium mining. Even when there were speculations about the negative health impacts of working close to uranium, government and industry carried on and the risk was carried over to hundreds of uranium miners, predominantly marginalized lower class and first nations men. Also, let’s not forget the significant amount of Canadian uranium that contributed to the atomic bomb. Although uranium activists were quite vocal in the 1960s and 70s about their disdain for uranium production in Canada and the introduction of nuclear power plants, it seems that this prior work has been lost on our generation. Admittedly, before learning about Canada’s uranium mining history in a sociology class, I had no idea about Canada’s assault on human rights for the pursuit of profit. But as they say, knowledge is power, and with future federal elections on the horizon, I have definitely become more critical with political platforms that promote nuclear energy as the “clean, green” answer to future energy sustainability. Although it is unlikely that most people will “discover” Canada’s uranium mining history before elections, lets hope that the silver lining on Japan’s recent catastrophic earthquake shows Canadians that nuclear energy is not our best solution.

Thanks Nikki for the article! It’s interesting that the youth were the driving force in bringing the health issues associated with the asbestos factory to light! And they managed to mobilize their own communities to fight against the factory. It’s a great example of education in action!

The case of asbestos production in Canada and the issue of uranium as April mentioned, are only some of the examples of profit coming before people in Canada. I’ve been looking at some of Canada’s foreign worker policies, and it’s shocking how bad the safety and health precautions are for these workers (especially once their visas run out and they stay as illegal workers). In a country where its citizens are afforded such a high standard of living, the disparities that exist in the working class (specifically in terms of migrants) need to be addressed. -Dena

The articles and discussion about asbestos highlight the inequities in the globalized world and in the relationships between the global north and south. I thought the comparison of asbestos to tobacco/cigarettes being exported and marketed to developing countries was an interesting example that more people are likely familiar with in the general public. There are probably endless examples of these types of marketing campaigns and resource trades and it’s interesting to see which ways they flow. In some cases Canadian companies are mining abroad and thereby harming a foreign environment and population in order to import or control a resource, and in other cases they are mining domestically and shipping that (harmful, in the case of asbestos) resource abroad.

We’ve spoken in class before about the path of developing countries and how exactly they should develop. Should they follow the Western path (including the many adverse environmental impacts) or should they use more recent information and technology to potentially be less harmful in their development? By pushing asbestos on these developing countries in Asia, Canada is not giving these countries and their people an option. We are forcing them to follow our path, while knowing what the terrible consequences will be and are already. This is why the issue is such a breach of ethics in my view, although we may question whether there are any established ethics in this arena.

I am amazed that Canada is exporting asbestos to developing countries. I think that asbestos shouldn’t be used at all and that we shouldn’t research how to make it into a harmless compound. In my opinion there is no reason to keep using it and since the material is so cheap adding on an additional cost of finding a safer version or way of handling the material might not look so appealing to whoever is making money off of asbestos. I feel like if that was option it would have happened already.

I think it’s really both the misuse and the actual material of asbestos that we are protesting. Even if we used it properly the history of asbestos and how much harm it has caused already is something to protest. Also, developing countries might not have enough resources to use asbestos “safely”. Asbestos is not something that should be used in any country and you would think by 2011 we would have stopped using it at all everywhere, but it seems like there needs to be serious policy changes that can stop the business that surrounds the asbestos industry. In this case and the situation of e-waste that we watched in class shows that the western world needs to have some major policy changes and more consideration of how we are impacting developing countries and moving them in the wrong direction.

April and Dena mentioned really good points about other issues that need to be addressed in our own country about uranium export and focusing on social disparities in the working class. By continuing to be a leading country in the export of asbestos, is Canada perpetuating a vicious cycle of being hungry for profit? Where do we draw the line in the future, when it comes to the export of material that may not be banned now, but become banned later on. I agree with Siena: we’re not giving developing countries a choice to follow a greener path. I think that part of the reason for it is this hunger for profits, but also to put a halo around Western countries as we emphasis our move toward a greener planet. It seems so easy to say that we should stop being selfish and realize that harming the environment another country and their people affects us all. Canada, like many developed countries, donates millions of dollars each year to the developing world, trying to band-aid some of their hardships. We are doing ourselves more injustice by both causing harm and trying to mend it with all that we know: money.

Also, I found the article on BBC really inspiring; especially how a youth took a fact he learned from his biology class and helped educate his entire community, door-to-door. Policies would be the ideal solution, but impactful change is entirely feasible at a small community level and it can catalyze political involvement.

In terms of moral ethics, the business practice involving asbestos is certainly, to me, quite a risky domain. Yes, on one hand, it seems fine and dandy to think of solutions in asbestos management, and come up with policies in which asbestos can be handled safely in the workplace. But on the other hand, there’s the whole issue of reaching the vast populations in the rest of the world, particularly Asia, where implementing such strategies is a tremendous task, since much of the labor involved comes in the form of child labor and may not necessarily be documented and subsequently tracked. From that perspective, this material’s substantial risk on human health and the extent to which people have to take precautions to limit exposure to it, may end up cancelling out with the inexpensive nature of asbestos. Even with the golden outcome of industries having to spend funds on protection equipment for their employees, the cost benefit of manufacturing the substance may in fact be, on the global level, just as expensive or more costly than processing alternatives to asbestos. In all, my stance is a critical one, but I think that with something like asbestos, I can’t realistically see the harmful effects being eliminated from all developing countries who process it; consequently, perhaps an all or none stance may have to be taken, or more specifically, to have its processing permitted in countries, regions or specific companies with sound means to prevent harm to its employees.

It is very unfortunate to hear that Canada plays such a big role in harming not only it’s people (people working with asbestos) but also other developing countries. I agree with Alcina in that both the misuse and the actual material of asbestos that is really the problem. I believe that the asbestos should be banned completely, but I do not believe it will be banned considering the profit the developed countries such as Canada make from the product. Yes the cons of this product out lies the pros but when it comes to the government, their main concerns are usually making profits. I am sure the Canadian government does not care one bit about the individuals that are harmed because of the product and like wise, the developing countries’ governments do’t care about their citizens being harmed as well as long as they are able to make profit. It is sad, but it is reality.
I think what Canada is doing is unethical but when you look at the world, which country isn’t using marginalized people and countries to make profit?

Regarding the article, I think what the young boy was doing is great and that it amazes me how by going door to door the amount of change that is made on the local villagers’ perceptions of the issue. However, if the same situation were to happen on a bit larger scale, I do not think it would have had such a great outcome because in the case of the village, they were most likely all from similar social classes meaning they most likely faced same obstacles in their environments. On the other hand, if it were a city or larger town that he did the same thing in, I don’t think there would be the same outcomes since there wound be people of different social classes and those of higher class may not care about the affects of asbestos as long as they and their loved ones aren’t harmed. In short, I would expect to see the approach “as long as it is not in my back yard, I am fine with it. someone’s got to do the dirty work”.
Sorry I don’t mean to sound so pessimistic.

As indicated by Canada’s Asbestos Legacy at Home and Abroad article, Canada is the second largest exporter of Asbestos in the world. This is very disappointing to me as I believed in “Canada’s positive [national] and global reputation” which is actually masking its actions. The unfortunate reality is that the desire for profit and money is a big driving force for Canada and other exporters to put their economic profit before human beings health and their quality of life. I believe export of asbestos is morally unacceptable considering all the medical consequences upon exposure and the difficulties involved within protecting workers especially in the developing countries. As discussed in class, It is important to also consider that if Canada stops exporting, the developing countries may perhaps get their supply from elsewhere such as Russia. Thus, there needs to be global action towards stopping the use of Asbestos and replacing them with safer alternatives. I think it is worthwhile researching into processing commercial asbestos into a harmless compound for use. Although for this to happen a lot of money is required but I think we save on the health care cost and save lives in the long run. I found the following interesting link “ Export Ethics: asbestos and coal”:
http://burycoal.com/blog/2010/08/24/export-ethics/

Nisa,
Thank you for pointing out that economics is the driving force behind this problem. Upon the most simple and straightforward explanation of this issue, any person would see that Canada’s exporting of asbestos is unethical and nonsensical. However, dress up the issue with economic bs and you have enough material to run asbestos mines in a country where it is illegal to expose its citizens to the product.
I think this is a key topic we unfortunately didn’t get to discuss very often, the battle of economics versus reality. Issue after issue the drivers of clearly identified problems that just have not received apparent solutions are business interests, economic/political rhetoric or stalling.
I just had this conversation with Gateman, my economics prof from first year. We were discussing a specific situation in Ecuador, but then I said to him, economics is not in touch with the reality of these problems, what are we going to do about this? Other disciplines are reintegrating again, so why is economics always so high in its ivory tower?
I won’t go into how it ended. I didn’t quite get an answer. But anyway I had to put an econ rant into this course somewhere. The environment’s health, people’s health are NOT externalities, they are a central concern and if they are not included in a model in which governments and corporations are making their decisions, then they need to go back to the drawing board and do their homework correctly. It’s utter insanity how people worship the economic argument while people in this world suffer as the result of carelessness and greed. Is asbestos less harmful on the other side of the world?

Considering how durable, useful, and inexpensive asbestos is, I still don’t think it’s worth the risk of researching into processing commercial asbestos into a harmless compound for use. There has been a huge protest against asbestos in the scientist community. With the amount of money that the asbestos industry is giving to the Canadian government, the government can easily fund a research group and swing it to their favour. Even if the research supports that asbestos can be used as a harmless compound, we still have to extract it from the ores. Who is going to extract it and make it into a compound? The workers. It’s the same workers that will once again be exposed to the harm of asbestos fibers.

It seems like we never really learn from our own mistakes? As long as profits are available, we will repeat history over and over again. This is what we call “Development”, every country has to experience it somehow. At least this is the belief in our current society…

What happened to ethical practice? Our culture seems to have lost any moral basis, if it ever had one. I think increasing awareness is the first step to bring about any sort of change. Although it’s a slow and dreary process, I believe the topic brings about consensus in a large amount of the population, outside the economic model. Like mentioned above, it’s great to see the students in India taking action.

I wonder if legal action could take place under a current code of ethics…but I guess lobbiests for asbestos companies are on top of that. This is still an issue I’ll be thinking about. As April mentioned, this is not an isolated case, considering uranium mining and other issues that are still taking place. But who knows if there really is a means under our current system to bring about effective change…