The Asbestos Disaster - Who Is To Blame -

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The Asbestos Disaster - Who Is To Blame

The Asbestos Disaster - Who Is To Blame

The ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians were all aware of the health dangers of asbestos. It seems strange that the asbestos industry in many parts of the world chose to ignore the risks.

Even if the ancient wisdom had been lost, insurance companies were refusing to insure asbestos workers, or charging higher premiums for them by the 1920's. 50 Years later some companies in the asbestos industry were still doing nothing to protect their workers.

To be fair, the workers themselves had the same access to information as the companies, so must also take responsibility for their actions in deciding to work in a dangerous industry. In many respects that decision was similar to the decision that many people still take on a daily basis today - to smoke a cigarette. The apparent benefit of taking home a pay check overrode the distant possibility of death for those workers and their families, just as the immediate pleasure of a cigarette does for smokers today.

Having said that I believe that the employers have a duty to ensure that their workers are in as safe an environment as possible, and that they are aware of the risks, so that if they decide to work there, they are making an informed decision. Clearly this did not always happen, and as a result the industry is going through a series of lawsuits, where people who have become ill are suing for compensation. Many companies around the world have already gone bankrupt as a result of this, and the process appears to be continuing. In the US there is legislation proposed to pay compensation from a central fund, but this proposal seems unlikely to succeed because of the level of agreement that will be required on how the money in the fund will be collected.

Both workers and employers in all types of business would do well to reflect on this sorry saga where no-one with the possible exception of a few lawyers, will ever feel that their decision to either work in, or employ people in a dangerous environment, was justified.

The asbestos site makes it easy to find the information you need if you think you may have been exposed to asbestos. To receive your free 35 page support guide visit the asbestos cancer website.

In The News:

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088446/Pay-High-Court-tells-asbestos-case-insurers.htmlcid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNGpx8NQP3aatSatTt2a-MW3jMW0GAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=HTHHY8G08BoJimgurl=i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/11/12/article-1084931-0037BE1800000258-314_233x423.jpg width=44 height=80 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Daily Mail/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5206247.ececid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNHwVxN7tz1JqdA0ZKJo6Isne_GPHAbAsbestos/b cancer victims win High Court fight/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTimes Online,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobrNov 21, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Until then, insurers for the employers of the victims had paid compensation for the fatal blung/b disease bmesothelioma/b on the basis that their liability arose b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/3496501/Thousands-of-asbestos-cancer-victims-set-for-compensation-claim.htmlcid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNECurc_Qs7A8ZSC-38p7A2KVVyvxgThousands of basbestos/b cancer victims set for compensation claim/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrTelegraph.co.uk/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2008/11/22/asbestos-victims-insurance-victory-61634-22315156/cid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNE0jgoiN0dV8TUXWjoDFPyuqZ3r3QbAsbestos/b victims’ insurance victory/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrJournal Live/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1088446/Pay-High-Court-tells-asbestos-case-insurers.htmlcid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNGpx8NQP3aatSatTt2a-MW3jMW0GAPay up, High Court tells basbestos/b case insurers/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrDaily Mail/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5iuV_w8FSbXhZRoNwsANoD6g3XuuAcid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNEBTOTcA3lTrlyZJ9tFNbvoObAKVwnobrThe Press Association/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews/High-Court-victory-asbestos-victims/article-493418-detail/article.htmlcid=1272746769ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNEqpV1_aG2qYYJ2CeCVx_DdeUgcsgnobrThis is Nottingham/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272746769hl=ennobrall 29 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/3869484.Asbestos_claims_another_victim/cid=1273253063ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNG11xRmi7hi2DJXRBVfC2x6SghVEQbAsbestos/b claims another victim/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Press, York,nbsp;UKnbsp;-/font nobrNov 22, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1For many years, insurers paid compensation for the fatal blung/b disease bmesothelioma/b on the basis that their liability arose at the time when a worker was b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Ruling-on-health-risk.4721555.jpcid=1273253063ei=mrspSamxLKTe6APug-31AQusg=AFQjCNGOYl6k7WsMi6Zk-6xR6EjM_9xYgwRuling on health risk/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Star/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1273253063hl=ennobrall 6 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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The Asbestos Disaster - Who Is To Blame

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