Campaign to ban white asbestos gained visibility despite denial by the industry. Roch Lanthier gave strength and support to asbestos victims in many countries who have benefited from the information he shared through the networks. Roch enabled the global movement to get in contact with the plight of asbestos victims in Quebec, Canada. He felt that brothers and sisters who have been injured by asbestos across the globe belong to the same family and if they can come together an end to over one hundred years of asbestos deaths is possible.

Roch Lanthier of the Asbestos Victims Association of Quebec (AVAQ), Canada is no more. Roch was deeply concerned about the plight of asbestos victims in Quebec and India. Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) and AVAQ had plans of pursuing the asbestos interests in close collaboration in order to expose them.

BANI is saddened by his sudden demise. It seems just yesterday, three of us- Roch Lanthier, Dr. Annie Thebaud-Mony, the Director of Research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research at the University of Paris, France, a founding member of the BAN Asbestos Global Network and myself were exchanging notes on language and linguistics.

At Global Asbestos Congress (GAC), 2004 in Tokyo, he informed us about how AVAQ was founded to help asbestos victims and their families with medical, legal, environmental and personal issues, to make the population more aware of the situation through the media, and to develop alliances with other groups. AVAQ under his guidance has proposed an international moratorium on the use and production of asbestos until a really safe way of using it can be found and applied everywhere.

The most important asbestos-mining area in Canada is situated in the province of Quebec, in the city of Thetford Mines and its surroundings. In an area of roughly 40 km by 3 km there are more than 30 tailings dumps from both disused and active chrysotile mines. Soil tests show the content of these tailings is 10% chrysotile. Many houses are built very close to the tailings, sometimes less than 100 meters away, and residues from the tailings are widely used for landscaping.

Women of this area have the highest level of mesothelioma in the world, twice the second-highest level registered.

Roch had informed GAC of different approaches being considered to control the pollution caused by these tailings. Four major aspects have to be taken in consideration: the stabilization of the soils, the disposal of the soils, the irrigation of the sites and revegetation.

He felt that since the adequate regeneration of these sites would necessitate huge financial and technical resources, it has to be envisioned in the context of an overall environmental and socio-economic regeneration of the area. Focus should be put on high added-value income-generating projects in order to attract private and institutional investment, he advised.

He has compelled me to ponder and introspect over the brevity of life, one must do things in right earnest. I was thinking of writing to him one of these days to do a follow of what we had planned to do to put pressure on asbestos industry.

Roch had great fascination for Indian philosophy. Infact he was truly an Indian at heart. He had lived in Hardwar, one of the most spiritual cities in India. He was also a disciple of one spiritual teacher.

Although I had met him in Ottawa at the "Canadian Asbestos: a Global Concern" conference and exchanged messages, it was only our meeting in Tokyo that revealed the real Roch to me. He seemed so aware and conscious of Vedantic Truth; interestingly, his consciousness was based on both intuitiveness and experience.

He expressed his views in unusually non-verbose manner about the subtle existence of our being. He felt that I would understand him better; people in Quebec find his views incomprehensible.

Roch was of the view that "we never cease to exist". I agreed with him then and I agree with him now as well.