Comedian Jon Stewart is well known for satirizing the news of each day on his long running The Daily Show. Last week a piece was aired on the show which featured interviews with officials in the town of Asbestos, Quebec, who has reopened their chrysotile asbestos mine for exportation. The ‘news report’ was done satirically, but the town officials of Asbestos Que. aren’t laughing.
The interviewer was Indian born comedian, Aasif Mandvi, who mocked the town and the officials who spearheaded the effort to export asbestos; most of the chrysotile is sent to India. When asked Bernard Coulumbe, the Jeffery Mine boss, told Mondvi that asbestos was safe as long as people handled the material properly. However, images from a CBC documentary included in the story showed that Indian workers don’t take the proper precautions to protect themselves from the toxic mineral.
Coulumbe told Associated Press that had he known they aren’t doing a serious news story they wouldn’t have agreed to the interview. And also said it was a “tacky parody” in “poor taste”.
Mondvi also interviewed a Canadian doctor who said he was embarrassed that Canada was exporting the known carcinogen. He showed an x-ray of a lung afflicted with mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an extremely aggressive cancer, and according to the World Health Organization, over 100,000 people around the world die from mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma attorneys and the victims of the disease will tell you that it is no laughing matter, but the Daily Show was using irony and sarcasm to make a point about the dangers of asbestos. They also wanted to illustrate the callousness of the people who export the carcinogen. Mesothelioma lawyers have represented many clients who are suffering in order to obtain compensation for their agony.
