A-Infos (en) Ireland, Organise! Working Class Resistance #8 - LOCALS FIGHT BACK AGAINST ASBESTOS PLANT IN ANTRIM

[Worker <a-infos-en@ainfos.ca>]

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The one guarantee that you have with asbestosis is that it doesn’t
go way. Now it seems that, unlike asbestos itself, it can’t be swept
under the carpet either. An ‘asbestos handling’ station (no, I wouldn’t
advise doing that either!) in Newpark, Co. Antrim has sparked protest
by local residents wary of the potential risks it could cause.
A Belfast-based family company, Eastwood Demolition, plans to
use its existing landfill site at Crosshill to store asbestos in sealed
containers before shipping it to Scotland for disposal. The
application has already been approved by the planners and there is
no right of appeal under the legislation. At any one time, there
would be four containers of asbestos at the site, a cargo of about 80
tonnes of asbestos.

Suzanne Eastwood, on the BBC, has stated that there is no risk and
the environment is secure:
"I feel that the information that the people of Crumlin have been
given is incorrect. I can understand the fear that they have, but it is
based on misinformation," she said.

Oliver Frawley of the Crumlin Against Asbestos group said the
community felt it had not been properly consulted.:
"The mere mention of the word asbestos is sufficient to create fear
in people given the number of deaths that have occurred. We have
called for a full public inquiry and if Mr and Mrs Eastwood feel that
they have nothing to fear this would be one of the roads we would
go down. We feel as a community we have not been consulted and
we genuinely feel that the regulatory authorities, the planners, the
health and safety executive and environmental heritage have totally
failed in their care duties to this community."

The action group said if planners did not change the decision, they
may go to court in an attempt to overturn it.

This is at a time when the number of individuals and families
making claims against companies for asbestos-related diseases is
on the increase. James Maguire, a former shipyard worker with
Harland and Wolff’s Liverpool base, didn’t suffer any
ill-effects from asbestos exposure, but his wife, Teresa did. She was
diagnosed with mesothelioma - an incurable cancer of the lining of
the lungs - after being exposed to asbestos dust while washing her
husband's work clothes. Teresa died in May 2004 after the High
Court in Manchester ruled she was entitled to £82,000 in
damages.

But, by a majority of two-to-one, the Appeal Court ruled last week
that it was "not reasonably foreseeable between 1960 and 1965"
that a wife would be at risk of personal injury. James Maguire is
taking the case to the House of Lords. Belfast solicitor Martin
Hanna, who specialises in asbestos cases, said the Appeal Court
decision was "potentially catastrophic". He said:
"In the course of the next 20 years, the vast majority diagnosed
with this condition [mesothelioma] will be secondary exposure."

According to new research carried out at St. James Hospital in
Dublin cases of asbestos-related disease will reach epidemic
proportions by 2015. Dr Ken O'Byrne, consultant oncologist at St
James's Hospital and chairman of the British Thoracic Oncology
Group, warned:
"Mesothelioma is increasing rapidly in Ireland and will peak in
2015. It is important to point out that there is an incubation period
of over 25 years, from first exposure to the first symptoms of the
disease. Although asbestos-related illnesses are traditionally
associated with shipyard workers, it is our experience a large
proportion of those diagnosed worked in the building and
construction industries."

Over 8,000 people are expected to die each year in Europe from
2015, presenting a huge financial burden to insurance companies.

Al
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[Ed. Note: Organise! is an anarchist group]


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