Pat Guth contributes news and insightful content for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. Bio »
April 01, 2012
Ontario, Canada - A bill proposed by the government of Ontario will ban the annual import of millions of dollars worth of asbestos-containing brake pads that make their way into the province each year.
According to a Canadian Broadcasting Company report, Canadian brake manufacturers stopped using asbestos in the late 1980s, yet the province continues to allow the import of asbestos brake pads from foreign companies. It's an issue that boils the blood of many Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union members. That's because dozens of individuals among their ranks have already died of mesothelioma after spending decades working with asbestos in the province's brake factories, particularly in the town of Tibury.
"Lots of people died," says Rick Garant, president of the local chapter of the CAW. "I dealt with guys with pleural plaques, asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer."
"For many, the diseases took them by surprise, Garant adds. "They thought they had a stomach flu that just never went away."
That's the nature of asbestos-related cancer, points out Garant. Most of the former Ontario brake workers developed malignant mesothelioma more than 25 years after their initial exposure to asbestos. That's because the disease has a long latency period and doesn't usually appear until decades after asbestos exposure occurs, catching the victims – and their doctors – off-guard. Sometimes, victims of the disease don't even remember being exposed to the hazardous mineral, delaying an accurate diagnosis and the start of treatment.
The first claims in Ontario's brake industry began appearing at the beginning of the millennium, the report points out. The first victim was diagnosed in 2000 and his diagnosis set a scary precedent, says Kevin Smyth, who developed asbestos-caused lung cancer at age 54. "You find out what everyone else could face."
The Tibury plant isn't the only place where cases of mesothelioma due to exposure to friction materials like brakes and brake pads are appearing. Many incidences of the disease have cropped up among workers at the General Motors (GM) plant in St. Catherine's, Ontario. That's despite the fact that in 1948, the chief industrial hygienist for GM was already attuned to the dangers created by brake materials in the company's factories. Yet use of asbestos continued and the Association of Workers' Compensation Boards of Canada note that asbestos-related deaths accounted for about 340 deaths in 2005 or 61 percent of all deaths from occupational diseases that year. The number is expected to rise.
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