Asbestos, Que. nixes cancer fundraiser
When the fledgling mine in Asbestos, Que. needed a $58-million loan guarantee from Premier Jean Charest, the Canadian Cancer Society pleaded for him to refuse. After all, particles from the mineral used in insulation are believed to contribute to 90,000 deaths per year, including a growing number of cancers in the developing world. Town officials were not impressed with the Cancer Society’s opposition to their lifeblood, carcinogenic as it may be. The mine provides hundreds of jobs in an economically depressed town of 7,000. “We want to work with our partners and not with our detractors,” Mayor Hugues Grimard told CBC News. In protest, the town has now cancelled their local Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life fundraiser. If the Jeffrey mine gets its loan, it could pump out Asbestos for another 25 years.
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