Asbestos warning on ferry prompts health tests
Last Updated: Monday, November 19, 2007 | 4:45 PM ET
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The crew members of one of Marine Atlantic's vessels are being advised to get tested for exposure to asbestos.
The Crown corporation is arranging to send workers on the MV Atlantic Freighter for medical tests, spokeswoman Tara Laing told CBC News on Monday.
Asbestos is a material once widely used in construction. If the fibres are disturbed and inhaled, a number of health problems, such as scarring of the lungs and lung cancer, can develop.
In October, the corporation posted signs aboard the Atlantic Freighter warning workers of asbestos, raising fears that employees were exposed to material for years without realizing it.
"Everybody's very worried because, with asbestos, the effects don't show up for upwards of 15 years," said Sue Irvine, with the Canadian Auto Workers union, which represents 600 Marine Atlantic employees.
"We're out there in all kinds of weather, and if it wasn't being disturbed, it wouldn't be an issue. But when a ship is rocking and rolling, the potential for fibres to be in the air is just phenomenal."
Marine Atlantic operates ferries running between Nova Scotia and southern Newfoundland. The Atlantic Freighter is now out of service for the winter.
Irvine said the material was not removed from the container ship Atlantic Freighter when it was first discovered in 1990.
But it was encapsulated, Laing countered.
Laing said the corporation doesn't know if anyone has been exposed to asbestos fibres, but said recent air quality tests are clear.
Marine Atlantic is holding information sessions on asbestos for all of its employees and is tracking down anyone who may have worked on the freighter in the past.
Laing said the corporation is recommending further medical testing for about 60 members of the MV Atlantic Freighter's current crew.
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