Fancy Holidaying In An Asbestos Mine?

I was bored at work today and decided to swing by a few of the travel blogs and magazine sites that I enjoy. I guess subconsciously looking for some possible destinations for my future travels! Anyway, I came across an interesting article about a town called... Asbestos! Now for those who don't know – asbestos is a building material which was really popular in the 1950's – until of course it because apparent that the fibres were actually a carcinogenic and many construction workers were diagnosed with fatal illnesses as a result of asbestos poisoning. It is pretty much safe as long as it is left alone, but when you try to remove it or when it is disturbed by construction work it becomes really dangerous. So as you can see, it's a pretty unfortunate name for a town!


The article was a couple of years old, but basically it was talking about how the small mining town of Asbestos in Canada was hoping to attract a booming tourism industry despite their name, in fact they were intending to play on it. The main attraction on offer was cited as Jeffrey Mine, a 2km wide pit that is almost as big as the surrounding town. Developers were intending to turn the pit into an “adventure paradise” with ATV tracks and bicycle routes. There was also the possibility of rock climbing. The project co-ordinator at the local tourist board was quoted as saying, “It's like a great big sand pit, a gigantic playground!”


Sounds, pretty cool right? Here is me ready to add it to the list – until l read a little more! Want to know why the town is called Asbestos in the first place? I bet you can already guess! Turns out Jeffery Mine is actually an asbestos mine! Yup, that's right.. they want to turn an asbestos mine into a tourist attraction! What the hell? Really?


Asbestos is actually the home of the cancer causing mineral of the same name and has come under fire for exporting to China and India when demand in North America plummeted for obvious reasons! Locals claim that the information about the health risks of asbestos are all false and embellished for sensationalism. I don't know.. try telling that to the people dying in hospices all over the world.


I think I'm gonna skip this one!