Substance-Specific Issues

Asbestos, pure - packaged as Consumer Products prohibition

Substance:

Asbestos, "pure"

Prohibition:

By virtue of inclusion as Item 37 in Part I of Schedule I to the Hazardous Products Act (HPA), no person shall advertise, sell or import

Products, other than products included in items 16 and 28 of this Part, that are packaged as consumer products and that are composed of

(a) asbestos fibres, including actinolite, amosite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, crocidolite, cummingtonite and tremolite; or

(b) fibrous erionite.

• Registration: SOR/88-261, 5 May 1988. French version amended through SOR/99-472, December 9, 1999.
  
  
• Publication: Canada Gazette Part II, Vol. 122, No. 11, 25/5/88.

Background:

The addition of this item to Part I of Schedule I prohibits the advertisement, sale and importation of "pure"loose asbestos fibres packaged as consumer products; i.e., it prohibits the marketing of products consisting entirely of asbestos. The addition of this item to the Schedule does not affect the commerce of products that contain asbestos as an ingredient (irrespective of the concentration of asbestos) nor the sale/importation of pure asbestos to/by industrial users.

In contrast to the French version of this Schedule item, the English version does not describe the composition of affected products through a qualifier analogous to "composés en totalité". When the item was being proposed, legal drafters anticipated that the fact that the English version of the Schedule item would not specify that the products are "...composed of in whole or in part..."or "..composed of or contain..."would suffice to convey that the item was meant to ban only those products composed entirely of asbestos. It was decided, therefore, that to add a qualifier such as "in their entirety" after "...products composed of" would be redundant as far as the English version was concerned.

Experience has demonstrated, however, that the lack of a qualifier in the English version such as "in their entirety" has lead to misinterpretations of the scope of this Schedule item; i.e., it has lead to the misconception that the item prohibits the marketing of all consumer products containing any amount of asbestos. This matter has been brought to the attention of the Department's legal advisors with a request that consideration be given to amending the item so that the intended meaning is conveyed without ambiguity.

After consultations with departmental officials, the asbestos-producing companies in Canada agreed in 1983 not to sell free asbestos fibres to consumers. The producers were unable to fulfil this commitment completely because some retail outlets continued to sell free (pure) asbestos fibres to the general public. A ban under the HPA was the only effective means to prevent the sale of these products to consumers. The addition of this item was required because the general public is neither trained nor equipped to handle these materials safely.

Reference:

Hazardous Products Act