Canada is currently the world's second biggest chrysotile (white asbestos) exporter, sending this class 1 carcinogen to countries with few, if any, safeguards, where it is used by poorly trained and uninformed workers with little access to medical care or sickness benefits.

Dr. Jukka Takala, Director of InFocus Programme SafeWork at the International Labour Organisation (ILO), has estimated the number of work-related asbestos deaths from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and other diseases worldwide as 100,000 every year, and growing.

The Canadian and Québec governments, the asbestos industry and the unions representing its workers maintain that chrysotile can be used safely under "carefully controlled conditions." An intensive disinformation campaign in Canada and abroad is lead by the Asbestos Institute, a heavily subsidized industry public relations organization. However, Canada exports more than 95% of all the asbestos it produces and critics suggest that the Canadian principle of "safe use" is impossible to enforce in the third World countries where the asbestos in imported. They say "safe use" is a hypocritical ploy to profit from the export of a substance too hazardous to be used at home.