Documents Kazan-Allen, Laurie 14 results

"For decades asbestos was considered an ideal substance and therefore was called 'the mineral of the twentieth century'. Even though the fiber had already proven much earlier to cause various ailments, a real boom began in the 1950s and prospered everywhere in Europe.
This book retraces the history of the Swiss asbestos cement company Eternit, investigating the strategy it developed – together with other asbestos industrialists – to prevent this carcinogen from being outlawed until, in 1999, an EU Directive was finally adopted to this end. The book also reviews the struggle of the asbestos workers and their families to gain official recognition of, and compensation for, the harm suffered."

"The shift in the public perception of asbestos from "magic mineral" to "deadly dust" owes much to the mobilization by asbestos victims, ban-asbestos activists, health and safety campaigners, and individuals concerned about the global asbestos death toll. Cognizant of the proven links between asbestos and disease, governments of industrialized countries banned further use, as a result of which consumption shifted to developing countries; between 2000 and 2010, asbestos use in Asia grew dramatically. In the face of a powerful industry lobby, members of the ban-asbestos network have lobbied national governments to outlaw asbestos use, challenged industry propaganda, and cooperated with social partners on coordinated multinational initiatives. Major developments in the campaign to end the mining, sale, and use of asbestos which have taken place over the last 50 years are delineated in this paper."

"On February 13, 2012, a Turin Court will announce the verdict in a criminal case brought by Italian prosecutors against former asbestos executives employed by the Swiss and Belgian Eternit Groups: Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny and Belgian Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne.
The defendants are charged with causing permanent environmental disaster and failing to comply with safety rules for their part in the running of asbestos-cement factories in Casale Monferrato and other Italian cities. It is alleged that as a result of their actions, hazardous exposures took place which caused a humanitarian asbestos disaster.
In recognition of the international importance of these legal proceedings and the dearth of information about Eternit in English, a book has been published this month by a consortium of civil society groups which examines this case against the backdrop of Eternit activities on three continents.
The eighteen papers contained in this monograph examine Eternit operations in seven countries; the texts reveal a corporate modus operandi which consistently prioritized profits regardless of the cost paid by workers, family members, consumers and communities. Time and again Eternit achieved corporate growth through collusion with discredited regimes. In Nazi Germany, slave labor from concentration camps was used in the Berlin Eternit factory. During the apartheid era in South Africa, black workers were treated like slaves in the asbestos mines and in Nicaragua, the company's prospects benefitted from the support of the dictatorial Somoza family."

"The global campaign to ban asbestos took a giant leap forward with the success of the Global Asbestos Congress 2004 (GAC). The attendance of representatives from 40 countries, the presence of distinguished international speakers, the interest of Japanese, Belgian, Brazilian and South African media teams and the continual discussions in hallways and at social events were physical manifestations of an unquantifiable “buzz” generated by bringing together so many people affected by asbestos. From the comprehensive agenda to the bell ringing protocol to the identifying white jackets worn by the scores of volunteers, the conference had been expertly planned by the GAC Organizing Committee; since 2002, committee members had worked assiduously to generate political backing and raise funds for this landmark event, the first global conference to focus on the repercussions of asbestos use in Asia."