Rally in Italy for Worldwide Ban on Asbestos

Call for Global Ban on Asbestos

Activists have called for a worldwide ban on the hazardous building material at rally in Turin, Italy where an international trial on asbestos-related disease is underway.

Asbestos-related diseases is quite common in Italy due to past exposures. This has resulted because previous Italian governments were manipulated by multinational asbestos corporations.

The epidemic of asbestos-related cancers for instance, in Casale Monferrato in northwest Italy, where Eternit remained in operation until 1985, and in Monfalcone in northeast Italy has taken a toll that has come to light only after public protests, trade union pressures, and campaigning by the families of victims.

Now that a ban exists in Italy, it is vital that it be fully enforced to reverse the epidemic of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases.

As significant as is this ground-breaking lawsuit is the formation of an alliance of European groups and professionals which has coalesced to progress the claimants' cause.

A series of meetings which took place in Turin from March 14-16, 2010 brought together asbestos victims' representatives, ban asbestos activists, legal practitioners and other experts from Europe, Latin America and Asia too.

Reflecting on the importance of the events in Turin, Organizer Annie Thébaud-Mony from Ban Asbestos France and the International Ban Asbestos Network expressed the feelings of many delegates when she said:

“People in Turin and the surrounding area know only too well the consequences of working for Eternit. Thousands of people in Casale Monferrato and other Italian towns have died from their occupational and environmental exposures to Eternit asbestos. Considering that hazardous exposures experienced in Italy were replicated elsewhere, there must be hundreds of thousands of people who have died from their exposures to this company's asbestos products."