January 24, 2005

Tempers flare over Zonolite insulation

WINNIPEG

Federal Housing Minister Joe Fontana is being slammed by critics after saying he’s not yet convinced science has proven Zonolite insulation is harmful and he isn’t prepared to pay to have it removed.

Fontana, in Winnipeg last week for public consultations in the development of a national housing strategy, said he doesn’t think asbestos is in all Zonolite, nor does he believe all Zonolite that may be tainted is bad for you.

“It’s a potential health risk but that’s all,” Fontana said.

Raven Thundersky was outraged that Fontana was dismissing the facts put forth by doctors treating her family for asbestos-related illnesses.

Two of her sisters died of asbestos-related cancers in the 1990s. Another sister and her mother have also been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare malignant tumor found in the line of the chest, abdominal cavity and around the heart.

She, her father and her brother all have asbestos-related lung damage.

Thundersky was among a small group who confronted Fontana about Zonolite during his visit.

They want Ottawa to pay to test for asbestos in houses with Zonolite insulation and to help pay to remove it.

NDP MP Pat Martin said in 1982, three months after it became known another insulation product known as UFFI caused respiratory problems, the federal government began paying homeowners up to $5,000 each to remove it.

Ottawa spent $181 million on that program.

Knew of risk

Martin said Ottawa has known of Zonolite’s health risks for over two years now.

But Fontana said you can’t yet compare Zonolite to UFFI.

“It’s premature to suggest we ought to undertake a similar programs like we did 20 years ago as regards to UFFI,” he said.

“I don’t want to draw the link yet. UFFI was a health issue and we decided as a government to do something about it.”

Thundersky is already suing Ottawa for compensation. The federal government installed Zonolite in thousands of First Nations homes as far back as the 1960s, including her childhood home on the Poplar River First Nation.

“They put us in a death house,” Thundersky said.

The federal government also recommended Zonolite as a product under its Canadian Home Insulation Program between 1977 and 1984, paying grants in many cases for Canadians to install it.

Zonolite is a brand name of a vermiculite-based insulation.

Two-thirds of the world supply of vermiculite, a naturally occurring mineral, was mined in Montana, where it is believed to have been contaminated with naturally occurring asbestos.

The Canadian Press

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