Quebec has long been seen as the last refuge of the asbestos industry in North America, and even as one of its final resting places in developed, progressive nations worldwide. With global pressures and general disapproval rising, however, the remnants of the industry may already be on their way to permanent dissolution.

Until recently Quebec’s political circles have shown zero interest in reforming their position on asbestos mining. While asbestos exports from Quebec amount to a considerable portion of the area’s livelihood, the costs in terms of poor health, increasing international pressure, and now some pressure from local officials and politicians are beginning to take their toll.

Asbestos exposure is the leading cause of work related death in Quebec, accounting for more than half of the deaths compensated by the Quebec Workers Compensation Board. Those numbers are almost certain to rise in coming years, due to the long latency period, or amount of time from initial exposure until symptom development, of asbestos related diseases.

Recently in Ottawa, some one hundred health professionals and politicians held an anti-asbestos rally on parliament hill, showing that public sympathies are beginning to take hold.

The mining of asbestos and the manufacture and export of asbestos containing products is hardly tolerated by the rest of the world. Medical professionals from a variety of backgrounds agree that asbestos is a dangerous material whose hazards easily outweigh its importance to industry. The World Health Organization has called for a complete end to asbestos use, saying that “all types of asbestos cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, cancer of the larynx and ovary, and asbestosis (fibrosis of the lungs).”

Historically, Quebec’s asbestos industry has turned to flaky arguments and fabricated evidence to protect its position, claiming that the specific type of asbestos it mines, chrysotile asbestos, is less harmful than other forms and can be used safely. Finding anyone without interests in the asbestos industry to agree is difficult, however.

In fact, Richard Lemen, the former Assistant Surgeon General of the United States, published the following statement in the World Asbestos Report last year:

“The chrysotile lobby relies on misinterpretations, false claims, and undocumented statements to advance its global propaganda campaign for the continued use of chrysotile asbestos. . . . Blow away their smoke . . . and truth emerges for all to see: asbestos is deadly . . . and the continued use of chrysotile is unconscionable.”

Asbestos industry officials in Asbestos, Quebec, are waiting nervously for word from the Quebec government concerning whether or not they’ll supply the loans necessary to expand the town’s asbestos mining operations. This decision could very well dictate the future of the asbestos industry in Canada. The expanded operations, which will include a new underground asbestos mine if approved, will create more than four hundred jobs and help to secure Quebec in its position as one of the world’s largest asbestos exporters for another thirty years.

Many experts vehemently oppose the idea of further investing in Quebec’s asbestos industry. Among other demonstrations of disapproval, a letter has been sent to the Quebec government asking them to put an end to the dishonorable trade. The letter was signed by fifty prominent professionals in Quebec including doctors, academics, scientists and environmentalists, and was authored by Dr. Fernand Turcotte, a veteran of the war on big tobacco interests.

Whether or not this ends up being the turning point for Quebec, it’s clear enough that the asbestos industry in Canada is headed for a close.

After Alan Olson died at an early age of 47 from lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure, his wife Anne filed a lawsuit against his former employer, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The Port Authority operates the PATH subway system where Alan used to work, and the lawsuit alleged that that is where he was consistently exposed to airborne asbestos particles.

Asbestos products have long been known to cause severe and fatal respiratory illnesses such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissue that surrounds the lungs known as the mesothelium. Mrs. Olsen’s lawsuit was brought under the Federal Employers’ Liability Act, claiming that the Port Authority failed to protect Alan Olsen from toxic environments and insufficiently warned him of the dangers associated with his workplace.

Anne Olsen didn’t win the lawsuit, but she’s seeking a new trial now that a Juror has come forward admitting that he voted in his employer’s favor to bring the trial to a close.

The juror wrote an email to one of the prosecuting attorneys after the trial. In the email, he made it clear that the trial was deeply affected by his desire to expedite the proceedings.

“Everything that was presented to us, I had in your favor,” the juror wrote to the prosecuting attorneys.

He continued to say that the jury panel thought Olson’s smoking contributed to his cancer, but that the asbestos did, too.

“I wish I would’ve kept my vote for the family,” the email continued, “I think about it every day. It shouldn’t be like that. . . . Then I feel like we would’ve never gotten out of there.”

It’s undecided whether the case will be tried again. Had the juror in question voted in favor of Anne Olson the resulting tally would have been 6-2, with 6 in favor of the defendant. Under New Jersey law, a vote of 6-2 would still be insufficient for a verdict.

Rhoda Evans was awarded an astonishing $208.8 million by a California Jury in a recent asbestos industry lawsuit. The prosecution showed that Rhoda developed mesothelioma, a fatal disease linked to asbestos, after being exposed to microscopic asbestos fibers on her husbands clothes. Her husband worked with the substance regularly, in the form of products supplied by the defendant. The $208.8 million award is one of the largest in the state of California’s history for similar lawsuits.

Bobby Evans, Rhoda Evans husband, was an employee of the state for nearly a quarter of a century, during which time his job included cutting cement water pipes to size using an abrasive powder saw. The water pipes were supplied by CertainTeed and contained asbestos fibers acting as a strengthening agent. Bobby’s work often caused him to become coated in thick asbestos containing cement dust, which he then brought home unintentionally on his clothes.

The lawsuit showed that CertainTeed was well aware of the dangers of asbestos as early as the 1960′s, but that they failed to warn their customers about the toxic substance until 1985 when public awareness of the dangers of asbestos was beginning to rise dramatically. The jury declared that 70% of the liability for negligent asbestos contamination lay with CertainTeed, and the other 30% with the Department of Water and Power.

Mesothelioma is a quickly progressing, aggressive and terminal cancer linked exclusively with exposure to asbestos fibers. Due to their unique, needle like shape, microscopic asbestos pass through the body’s defenses against foreign debris with relative ease. After being accidentally inhaled or ingested from a contaminated environment, the tiny particles slip directly through the lung or intestinal walls and become entangled in a protective tissue called the mesothelium. The mesothelium responds by accumulating a type of scar tissue, which over the course of years or even decades can slowly develop into malignant tumors.

Mesothelioma is nearly impossible to diagnose until it’s in its final stages, and victims can take decades to develop symptoms from the time of exposure.

Asbestos litigation has a long history in the United States and around the world. While medical professionals proved that asbestos has hazardous effects on the human respiratory system as early as the 1920′s, it took some sixty to eighty additional years before the fact was widely accepted. Many asbestos companies have been fighting for the last century to downplay the effects of asbestos contamination, despite the more than 90,000 people annually who are diagnosed with fatal asbestos diseases.

The Central District Los Angeles Superior Court jury revealed their decision last week. They awarded Rhoda Evans $8.8 million in compensatory damages and claimed an additional $200 million from CertainTeed in punitive damages. CertainTeed officials claim that they aren’t satisfied with the ruling, and that they’ll continue to fight the verdict and the award.