Bad news for Canada’s asbestos industry is good news to proponents of a nationwide movement to make the industry grind to a halt because of its potentially fatal health effects. SFU health scientist Tim Takaro can respond to news that the last vestiges of Canada’s asbestos industry, in Quebec, are collapsing. “Canadian asbestos production problems and the market place have combined to produce a major advance for public health and for workers around the world with Canadian production essentially halted for the first time in decades,” says Takaro. The original author of a three-year-old national anti-asbestos letter-writing campaign, Takaro adds: “When this cessation of asbestos production becomes an intentional national policy, Canada's moral standing in the world can also advance."

Tim Takaro, 778.782.7186, ttakaro@sfu.ca