At its November meeting, CAUT Council voted to press the federal government to stop the export of asbestos, withdraw its funding from the Asbestos Institute and support a worldwide drive to eliminate all use of asbestos.

The resolution, proposed by CAUT's executive committee, stems from recognition that exposure to asbestos is one of the most serious occupational health and safety issues around the world. This reality was brought home to Canadian academics when several longtime staff members at the University of Manitoba, who worked in the same asbestos-containing building for many years, developed mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by airborne asbestos.

"Asbestos poses a danger to our members because most campus buildings built before the mid-1970s contain asbestos," said Laura Lozanski, CAUT's occupational health and safety officer. "Normal wear-and-tear, as well as renovations, can release asbestos into the atmosphere."

Lozanski said asbestos is a potent carcinogen for which there is no "safe" level of exposure.

Canada is a leading producer of asbestos and has been unresponsive to worldwide lobbying to prohibit its use. Despite Canada's resistance, asbestos will be banned throughout the European Union by 2005. Argentina, Australia, Chile, Croatia and Saudi Arabia have also banned asbestos. France, once a leading importer, now buys none.

The International Labour Organization estimates that 100,000 workers die every year from asbestos-induced cancer and tens of thousands of other workers are victims of asbestosis and other asbestos-related diseases.

CAUT's occupational health and safety department will be issuing a fact sheet on asbestos shortly, and a special workshop on asbestos will be featured at CAUT's occupational health and safety conference April 2-4 in Halifax.

"We encourage every faculty association to make sure its representatives on joint health and safety committees raise issues over the risks of asbestos and ensure proper measures are being taken to protect faculty, students and staff members in buildings containing asbestos," Lozanski said.

Faculty associations can contact CAUT's occupational health and safety officer Laura Lozanski (lozanski@caut.ca) for more information.