You will not find on any tourist guide, but in Casale Monferrato, near the Castle, the Cathedral, the Synagogue, the palace Anne of Alençon c 'is a monument of industrial architecture that deserves a mention the, oh yes: the remains of a factory for eighty years, from 1906 to 1986, even if outside Casale exception of the last few times I have written and spoken, has dramatically marked the city's history. This is what remains of the 'Eternit', the price of the product known for building.
The 'Eternit' in Casale has left him a bad memory. What it produced was a mixture of cement and asbestos which would have been harmless, even beneficial, if it had not in fact contain asbestos, which, besides being one of the most dangerous carcinogens that are known, it is because of other serious diseases professional, including asbestosis, especially in the airways. With asbestos have had to contend not only the workers, from laborers to management employees of the 'Eternit', but throughout the city. They are in fact died of lung cancer, and more generally of diseases induced by asbestos, not just employees the establishment, but also, and perhaps most importantly, people to 'Eternit' have never worked. While asbestosis and lung cancer and larynx have hit almost exclusively on workers 'Eternit', cases of death from pleural mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos specifically, related to the two-thirds of people who have never had professional dealings with the factory.
But what is asbestos? It is a mineral divided into several subspecies of magnesium silicate that occurs in filamentous forms. If it comes into contact with respiratory almost always results in severe pulmonary disease and in particular a severe form of cancer, pleural mesothelioma, which, in addition to being an incurable is hardly curable, so that leads rapidly to death by suffocation. The asbestos disease and have a long latency period and their tragic effects occur even after decades.
Why Casale amiantifere diseases have also affected non-workers of the 'Eternit'? Why, for various reasons, asbestos has spread throughout the city. For example: asbestos, all imported, was transported from the train station to the factory first with a train and then by truck, the one and the other with caissons discovered which ran through the northwestern part of the city. The loading and unloading of asbestos took place outdoors, spread in the air and came into contact with the respiratory system also people not directly involved in the establishment. In addition, the residues of the mineral content in the clothes of employees infect their families.
Clarifies the prof. Leonardo Santi, scientific director of the National Institute for Research on Cancer of Genoa: "The long and winding asbestos fibers are the least harmful, while truly dangerous ones are small and lanceolate. Penetrate into the lungs causing fibrosis, then there's the pleura, causing a cancer, pleural mesothelioma precisely, leaving no hope. "
Bruno fish first, and then Nicola pondre, both secretaries of the Trade Union and members of the Committee of Casale Asbestos litigation (which is also joining the ' Asbestos Victims Association) and many others with them not only of the CGIL trade union, is are committed to the extreme in order to free the workers of the 'Eternit' and the entire city of Casale from the dangers of asbestos. Their passionate intervention on the scientific and political world have led to the closure of the company in 1986 and in 1992, the law not only prohibited the total use, import and export of asbestos, but has also laid down rules for the decontamination of polluted sites.
It would be illusory to think that the asbestos problem is finally solved. Dr. Daniela De Giovanni, oncologist at the hospital of Casale, stretch, says: "The real problem of Casale today." says, "is represented by the manufactures of asbestos cement. Over the next few years, their deterioration and the remediation of spontaneous, predictably inadequate, causing a terrible dispersion of asbestos fibers. This will cause an increase in the coming decades of mesothelioma cases among 30 to 40 percent. Unfortunately, the growing cases of mesothelioma among people between the ages of 30 to 40 years who were exposed to asbestos as kids, when the immune system was not able to provide defenses. "
In Italy and in Europe, because the processing of past years and the deterioration of the artifacts scattered everywhere, the peak of deaths is expected between 2015 and 2020, even the European parliament in May 2009 extended the termination date of the final use of fibbre-killer (up to 2015 in some plants can be used chrysotile asbestos, also commonly called "blue asbestos"), and in many parts of the world ( Central America, South America, Africa and Asia) asbestos is still being worked on and produced as if nothing had happened ...
Romana Blasotti Pavesi (from the documentary Indestructible), President of Family Victims who came to speak at First Tournament Ultras against asbestos it 2008, lost to this disease five family members including his daughter and her husband.
ASBESTOS DISPUTE ETERNIT (The story in brief raccontataci Asbestos Victims Family Association)
I started last April 6 the preliminary hearing at the Court of Turin, thanks to the request for indictment of the Summits of this multinational Swiss-Belgian Stephan Schmidheiny and the Belgian Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne.220.000 are the pages of this big investigation by the Prosecutor's Office (Dr. Raffaele Guariniello ) addressed to the four former Eternit factories Casale Monferrato, Cavagnolo (To), Bagnoli (NA) and Rubiera (RE), nearly 3,000 are for now, the victims identified as injured parties and included in the list submitted to the first GUP: 2,000 dead and thousands sick in all the 75% are victims of Casale Monferrato (town of 36,000 inhabitants) of which 500 people died of mesothelioma and are over a thousand workers died of asbestosis, lung cancer from asbestos, pleural or peritoneal mesothelioma, a Cavagnolo, a village of fewer than 3,000 inhabitants, deaths were 150 ... The mesothelioma in Italy, are now more than 1,000 a year in the town of Casale Monferrato, ultimately, the diagnosis reached 45 cases per year of which approximately 80% of the population in Overall, we hope to overcome as soon as the "peak".
Behind that is the greatest job on the "white deaths" of Europe, there is a long fight "without quarter" against asbestos in our country and particularly in Casale Monferrato . It could therefore be as emblematic as it has developed and, in this village, the fight against asbestos: Action to protect individual workers by the Union (in particular by the Chamber of Labour of Casale and patronage-INCA CGIL and CISL and UIL). Extensive medical-legal litigation with lawsuits (70 and growing, in the 80s) for the just recognition of asbestos-related diseases: asbestosis, for example while the first was recognized in 1943 in Casale Monferrato, mesothelioma, as such, ie not "accompanied" by asbestosis, was recognized by 'only INAIL in 1987! Collective action for health in the factory and out of itself, should be noted that there were three phases characterizing the struggle before the union of environmentalists and the victim, then the local institutions.
Stage 1. It was the '50 / 60, the heavy, dust, noise etc.. were part of the "arguments" used in general and also in Casale Monferrato, to obtain wage improvements, including the famous "monetization" It was a normal choice, almost obbligata.Infatti at the time was very difficult to support the objectives of changes to the organization of work and it was unthinkable to impeach the use of a raw material , as in this case was asbestos, for health reasons. The dominant culture, in fact, considered "normal" that the worker, working, could become ill, injured more than that, maybe even dying, in the end "was a factory worker and the supervisory bodies of the era were influenced by the" law of the fittest. " (Unfortunately, today the trend is a return back).
2nd Stage. '68 Stemmed not only from the famous student protests! As should be known, millions of workers, by developing trade union unity and the great conquest of the Statute of the Rights of Workers of 70 gave rise, more and more extended, a series of struggles to improve the working environment and health protection at the factory with the important contribution of medical and technical services for all 70 prevenzione.Negli platform of demands of the union, from farm level, contained its own specific demands on the environment and health in the factory and therefore to Eternit improvements were achieved in the workplace.
Step 3. Start the fight against asbestos, and against using the same raw materials as Eternit, with the crisis of the '80s, the conditions changed and began to be less than great season trade union for the protection of health at lavoro.All ' Eternit Casale, thanks to the role of protection of individual rights of workers with occupational disease and therefore the collective achievements that improve the work environment, the union with an obvious mixture of roles with the Patronato INCA CGIL, then acquired a some credibility and "authority" among the workers since the late '70s and early '80s, much later, in public opinion. For this step in the fight the union challenged to the end of the asbestos risk was not difficult and resisted, but he saw the confrontation "classic" between occupational and environmental, between workers and union, now increasingly in concert with environmental organizations to reach the goals of exceeded the use of asbestos. Of course the workers were very concerned about the prospects of their jobs and thus their own paycheck, it's always good to be well aware, however, even among environmentalists that the paycheck is not an option in most of the third stage since 1979 necessario.Questa can be summarized schematically as: Strong development of forensic litigation, hundreds of cases a large majority successfully for the recognition INAIL asbestos-related diseases;
1981-1983 we started a civil suit (Chamber of Labour and Inca) which is very important with confirmed until the Supreme Court in 1989, the existence risk of asbestos in all departments, with very few references concern for pollution cittadino.Tale lawsuit was filed against the acceptance of the request INAIL (documented?) Eternit exemption from payment of insurance premiums for the risk of asbestosis / silicosis!
1984 Conferences and initiatives on asbestos-related diseases;
1986 Bankruptcy Eternit on self-analysis, after 80 years of business and coming close to selling 2,000 employees, was now thrown out the lemon juice, with 350 unemployed people, denying the promise made years before a new plant and a possible redirection of production. After a few months ahead sent the SAFE (Eternit France) to reopen the Eternit even with the use of asbestos, the Syndicate (the Labour) said no;
1987 First order of union in Italy, the town of Casale Monferrato prohibition of the use of asbestos in its territory: it was the final blow to the attempt to reconcile with asbestos;
1987 The first epidemiological studies (Cancer Epidemiology, University of Turin with the LHA of Casale) outline suffered the massacre, 200 deaths among asbestos workers, following the investigation of family members and citizens;
1988 Foundation of the Asbestos Victims Family with Roman Blasotti Pavesi presidency, will also follow up a Committee of Asbestos Litigation associations Casale (AFVA, CGIL, Legambiente WWF, Vitas help terminally ill patients, Mutual Aid, Active Citizenship). NO ASBESTOS
1989 the Labour Conference, Regional and Patronato INCA CGIL with the Association in Casale Monferrato, then perhaps the most important. It is his proposal for a law to ban asbestos and the establishment of a national fund for asbestos victims both professional population in general, for retirement benefits in order to resolve the problems of employment resulting from a conversion of environmental law and production companies such as Eternit already failed, the quarry Balangero etc.. Six months after submission of the National Platform Unitarian CGIL, CISL and UIL for the banning of asbestos;
1992 Act 257 - after three years of sit-in outside the Parliament, demonstrations, petitions and so on. L.257/92 is approved (perhaps the most organic internationally but without the funds for the victims);
1993 First criminal trial against leaders of the SPA-Eternit Casale after eight years of investigation, is disappointing: in appeals were granted extenuating circumstances, manslaughter, and then the penis (while confirming the guilt) were reduced to a few months in prison and, most importantly, reducing the time limitation cut off the 800 plaintiffs - workers sick and died. Was obtained at the same time, compensation from the bankruptcy, on grounds of principle, though little more than symbolic, a total of 7 billion old lire then another 5 and a half million euro a few months ago, '(all assets recovered from curating), with the final closure of the bankruptcy;
1998 reclamation plan for 48 municipalities in the area around Casale Monferrato Law 426 / site of national interest with public funding (the city of Casale Monferrato had already activated a service public library, with incentives for the disposal of asbestos cement roofing of brevity). Fortunately for some time Casale air pollution is the same, or even lower than that of other città .Se the local, regional and Ministry, together with private, will manage well what still remains to be reclaimed, the Casale few years will become more clear from the territory 'of asbestos Italy. It should be emphasized collaboration, underway for many years, between the City, Province, Piedmont Region, ASL AL, ARPA, Ministry of Environment for environmental remediation, testing, funding and management.
Remediation by the censuses and the identification priorities, has been implemented in all public buildings, in the former (also demolished), where this year will rise a public park. The private sites are cleaned up more than 50% (about 500,000 square meters are in many cities in the area).
Government grants, leader of the town of Casale, amounted to 50% of the cost for removing and replacing the covers and 100% of the cost for the remediation of friable asbestos.
Crunchy, in Casale, means "Polverino" as a waste of machining (turning to dust) "disposed of" giving it to the people and then spread in homes, backyards, attics, etc.. flooring and insulation.
The sites surveyed so far of "dust" are still few, about 130, of which almost half cleared or are being remediated. The same design is borne by the City of Lead, with monitoring of the atmosphere by ARPA - ASL. Such transfers have been tested and validated by ARPA in Casale - ASL - City - Piedmont Region - Ministry of Environment.
Luckily for some time air pollution Casale is equal to other cities.
If the Local Authorities, the Region and the Ministry will manage well what still remains to be reclaimed, the Casale few years will become more clear from the territory 'of asbestos Italy.
E 'obvious the need to recover an active policy of the Government and Institutions (Regions, Provinces, Municipalities, ASL etc.). to recover resources, census, reclamation plans, identifying priorities for action, public services and regional transportation and disposal of asbestos-containing materials . The same Government National Asbestos Conference (L.257/92) should be recovered.
should also confirm the following goals: the National Fund for Asbestos Victims (professional and citizens). Fight against mesothelioma, research development, including the role of the new Regional Center for Asbestos Casale Monferrato with the recent deliberations of the Piedmont Region for the financing of projects ricerca.Nuove Europees directives necessary and urgent an active role of the European Community to the international fight against the use of asbestos (as is known still in use in more than three quarters of the earth) for environmental remediation and Research on Mesothelioma. There must also be a rationalization and homogenization at the highest level of the various national laws on environmental / reclamation, health, damages, previdenziali.Crediamo, finally, that the process at the top of the multinational Eternit can make a great contribution to the emergence of the truth the tragedy of asbestos, and how absurd such an enormous development that has focused on the easy profits without regard to serious health consequences public and workers. Asbestos Victims Association of Family
Casale Monferrato, May 20, 2009
