"MONTREAL -- More than 150 international and Canadian public health organizations and individual scientists are demanding a worldwide ban on the mining, export and use of asbestos."

"The demand on Tuesday comes after last month's announcement by the Quebec government it would lend $58 million to help reopen the Jeffrey Mine in the town of Asbestos.

'The science is clear that all forms of asbestos cause ill health and premature death,' said Colin Soskolne, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta and one of those demanding the ban.

'According to the World Health Organization, over 107,000 people die each year from working with asbestos of any type,' added Soskolne, a former president of the Canadian Society of Epidemiology and Biostatistics."

Pierre Saint-Arnaud reports for the Canadian Press July 25, 2012. [2]