April 28, 1998 No. 103

CANADA INTENDS TO INTERVENE

AT THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE

The Canadian government will use its permanent observer status at the Council of Europe to raise Canada's concerns and to defend its position on the responsible use of chrysotile asbestos fibre.

A group of parliamentarians from the Council of Europe recently expressed its views on the banning of asbestos. In accordance with usual procedure, the opinion of the Parliamentary Assembly has since been referred to the Committee of Ministers, which does not have legislative powers to ban a product.

"The European Union and the Council of Europe are two separate and distinct institutions. The Council of Europe has no authority over the administration or regulation of trade," said Minister for International Trade Sergio Marchi. "In concert with our partners -- the Government of Quebec, industry and unions, as well as the five other chrysotile-producing countries -- we will continue to actively defend the policy of the responsible use of chrysotile asbestos in this arena, as we have in other forums."

One of the positions taken by the Assembly was to favour the creation of a group consisting of scientists with different points of view to undertake a comparative study on the effects of different types of asbestos. The parliamentarians also recognized that it is premature to say that these substitute products are environmentally pure.

"We remain confident that the Committee of Ministers will take into consideration the specific properties of chrysotile fibres and the lack of scientific information about the health risks and public safety risks associated with substitute products," said Natural Resources Minister Ralph Goodale. "The Canadian government's position is that this issue must be debated on scientific grounds. In this context, we believe a ban on all types of asbestos fibres is not a solution when you consider that scientific authorities from Europe have recently expressed serious concerns about the human health risks associated with replacement products."

The Parliamentary Assembly reached its position last week despite strong concerns expressed by Canadian parliamentarians at the meeting. Firm opposition was also voiced by the Russian delegation, which insisted on the need to differentiate between chrysotile fibres and other types of asbestos fibres.

Russia and Canada are part of a coalition of six chrysotile asbestos-producing countries, which are co-signatories of an aide-mémoire promoting the safe use of chrysotile fibres that was presented last week to the European Commission. The four other countries are Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. The Canadian government undertook this initiative in co-operation with the Quebec government and the chrysotile industry.

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For further information, media representatives may contact:

Leslie Swartman

Office of the Minister for International Trade

(613) 992-7332

John Embury

Press Attaché

Natural Resources Canada

(613) 996-2007

Media Relations Office

Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade

(613) 995-1874

This document is also available on the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Internet site: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca