Asbestos in Cape Breton Prison may have hurt Guards, Inmates: Union

Asbestos found in the Cape Breton Correctional Facility may have injured the guards and inmates that were exposed to the dangerous cancer causing mineral, according to the union that represents Nova Scotia’s jail guards.

The province of Nova Scotia has released air quality test results at the prison which show:

“The reported values were well below the acceptable criteria of 0.1 fibres per cubic centimetre”

Guards and inmates are concerned because exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma a deadly form of cancer.

The problem, according to the National Cancer Institute, is that:

“Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 30 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos.”

Exposure to asbestos also increases the risk of lung cancer, asbestosis (a noncancerous, chronic lung ailment), and other cancers, such as those of the larynx and kidney.

The province says that exposure levels are “acceptable”. The problem with this statement is that there is no scientific evidence to prove that asbestos exposure is safe at any level!

You have to ask yourself what the reaction would be if Nova Scotia’s M.L.A.’s found out that there was asbestos in the air in the Legislature. Would they consider any level of asbestos exposure to be “acceptable”?

What do you think?