Nature's Past episode 55: "Asbestos Mining and Environmental Health"

Kheraj, Sean | from Multimedia Library Collection:
Nature's Past (podcasts)

Kheraj, Sean. “Episode 55: Asbestos Mining and Environmental Health.” Nature’s Past: Canadian Environmental History Podcast, November 28, 2016. MP3, 38:08 http://niche-canada.org/2016/11/30/natures-past-episode-55-asbestos-mining-and-environmental-health/.

In 2012, Canada stopped mining and exporting asbestos. Once considered a miracle mineral for its fireproof qualities, asbestos came to be better known as a carcinogenic, hazardous material banned in numerous countries around the world.

Canada was once a leading producer of asbestos and home to the world’s largest chrysotile asbestos mine, located in the Town of Asbestos in the province of Quebec. This is the subject of a new book by Professor Jessica van Horssen. A Town Called Asbestos is a thoroughly researched and thoroughly shocking account of the history of asbestos mining, environmental health, and resistance in this small, Quebec resource town.

How did the people of the Town of Asbestos respond to the growth of asbestos mining, the knowledge of the harmful health effects of asbestos, and the consequence for their own bodies? (From Nature’s Past)

natures-past55.mp3, by eisenberg

Music credits: “My Heart is Holding Guitars” by HEJ31, “Dm120-BreakfastJam” by Javolenus, “Impression” by Stefan Kartenberg

Nature’s Past podcasts are posted on a monthly basis on the website of the Network in Canadian History & Environment / Nouvelle initiative Canadienne en histoire de l’environnement (NiCHE). The podcasts contain discussion about the environmental history community and research in Canada. They are hosted by Sean Kheraj, an assistant professor in the Department of History at York University in Toronto, Canada.

Creative Commons License This podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.