The Root of the Tragedy
Asbestosis is a dreadful disease. At one time a common enough one. Workers labouring with no protection, working in asbestos mines. The black lung disease was prevalent, and there was no cure. It was a by-product of the production of a deadly product whose miraculous virtues as a building material, a fire retardant and many other uses were acclaimed at the time. Asbestos has been banned in Europe since 2005.Its use has been banned in the United States and in Canada, as well. Although in Canada, chrysotile asbestos is still being mined, in the Province of Quebec. It may not legally be used in Canada. It is exported at great profit, to places like India, and still used there as a building material. And workers there have no union protection, no state protection from the deadly effects of asbestos.
A trial which began in 2009 after a five-year investigation in Italy has just concluded. Hundreds of relatives of asbestos-mine workers who had died as a result of their work witnessed the trial, and its conclusion. The trial revolved around criminal responsibility in the production of Eternit fibre cement to which three thousand asbestos-related deaths were attributed.
The former owner of a company producing the Eternit fibre cement and a major shareholder were sentenced in absentia after having been found guilty of causing an environmental disaster and failing to comply with safety regulations. They were ordered by the court to pay $39,000 in damages to relatives of those killed by asbestos-related diseases.
Each individual still living, ill as a result of the disease, was to receive $46,000 in compensation, for a total of hundreds of millions of dollars. It was considered to be "a fair verdict which acknowledges their responsibility", according to one of the lawyers involved. "The problem now is to see if the condemned men will face up to their obligations" to pay out the damages.
They were also both sentenced to 16 years in jail for negligence. It is not quite anticipated, however, that the former owner, 64-year-0ld Stephan Schmidheiny, nor 90-year-old Jean-Louis Marie Ghislain de Cartier de Marchienne will go to jail. Nor is it certain that the $325-million they have been ordered to pay will be proceeded with.
Under Italian law, according to a legal source, the two are under no obligation to serve the sentences meted out, nor to pay the damages, until the case is heard by both an appeals court and the Italian supreme court. It could even be brought before the European Court of Justice. The company had gone into bankruptcy six years before asbestos was banned in Italy in 1992.
A victory for justice, but a hollow one. "This trial will go down in history ... but it will not bring my dad back", said one grieving relative. "They killed people and they get 16 years? They are the root of the tragedy and they put our future in peril", fumed another.
Labels: Crime, Italy, Justice, Political Realities
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, February 14, 2012
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