Asbestos - The Massive 100 Year Cover Up

Asbestosis. mesothelioma and other associated lung diseases are set to become amongst the worst killer diseases ever to have been inflicted upon society by modern industry. In the North West, Turner and Newall, a Rochdale based company producing Asbestos since the late 1800s; have now been finally found out and accused of a massive cover up of the deadly facts known to them about the killer disease their product is responsible for. Now we have a virtual epidemic in Asbestosis and other related illnesses which will last for many years and kill many hundreds of people on the UK.

A new book entitled, ‘Defending the Indefensible’ was written by John McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale and brings to light the facts about the global asbestos industry, charting its widespread use from the late 19th century through to its current use in Third World countries.

Readers of Unionsafety will know all about the Save Spodden Valley Campaign group, who have been battling to save the valley and stop the building of homes on a site which was the former T&N factory. Spodden Valley Campaign group turned out in force to support the launch of the new book in August, and The Rochdale Observer covered the event and published an article about the facts of the Asbestos cover up.

As a result, evidence has been emerging over the last few months of a massive cover up by Turner and Newall stretching back to 1884, as Derek Maylor's letter to the Rochdale Observer highlighted in August.

Writing in his role as Chair of the Co-ord, Derek said, " Geoff Tweedale’s research has proved that workers may not have known but staff, especially senior staff, and Directors certainly did. 
The scandalous behavior of Turner & Newall, uncovered by Geoff Tweedale's research, must not be swept under the carpet and the record should be put straight.

Too many CWU members have already paid the ultimate price because of exposure to asbestos. The Turner & Newall documents presented at Tuesday's meeting showed they knew their profitable product was deadly in 1898, 1924, 1942 and 1983 yet precious little was done to protect workers." 

Further, it has become clear that Rochdale's most famous MP Sir Cyril Smith has been part of a political lobby used by Turner and Newell to avoid constraint upon its activities and deny any health implications in the production of Asbestos.

Yet the local newspaper, the Rochdale Observer, remains very protective of Cyril Smith and have never published any of the damning correspondence between Smith and asbestos giant T&N. Instead the local newspaper prints pro-Cyril rebuttals and refuses to print some readers' letters critical of a man who, as MP was also a T&N shareholder who wined and dined its directors and delivered speeches for the asbestos giant in Parliament.

An example can be read here

Despite this, national media attention has been given to the issue, with the New Statesman running a a major article end of August entitled, Asbestos: The lies that killed

The detailed article shows how government put jobs before the health of workers: "When government departments did raise questions about the safety of asbestos, the Board of Trade intervened, arguing that any suggestion that asbestos presented a danger would damage British jobs. So, the sale of asbestos products continued to grow in the UK throughout the 1960s and 1970s."

It also highlighted the part Sir Cyril Smith played: "T&N also relied on the assistance of Cyril Smith, the larger-than-life Rochdale MP and parliamentary pioneer of the Saturday-night television chat-show sofa. During the summer recess of 1981, Smith wrote to Sydney Marks, the head of personnel, informing him that the House would debate EEC regulations on asbestos in the next parliamentary session."

It goes on: " The letter asks simply: "Could you please, within the next eight weeks, let me have the speech you would like to make (were you able to!), in that debate?"

T&N's draft is almost identical to the speech delivered by the Rochdale MP, stressing the need for less regulation and arguing that substitutes for asbestos should be approached "with caution". "The public at large are not at risk," said Smith. "It is necessary to say that time and time again."

Twelve months later he declared 1,300 shares in the company. The article further points out that some six months after that the chairman of T&N, wrote thanking him for his assistance with the Commons select committee meetings which followed Alice, a Fight for Life, the Yorkshire Television documentary that highlighted the plight of T&N employees.

More recently, this month, The Daily Mirror printed an article demanding that Sir Cyril should lose his knighthood as a result of his cosy relationship with T&N and helping them with their continued cover ups of the basic facts about Asbestos and its deadly affect on those exposed to it.

Pointing out that Sir Cyril loved to be seen as the most popular MP in the UK with his many chat show guest spots and that the 70's catchphrase of "Nice One Cyril" may well have related to him until his dealings with T&N became known and the extent to which he was involved in the health issues cover up.

With the headlines reading, "Not such a nice one after all Sir Cyril", his full part in the cover up has once again been given national publicity.

Bit it is not all Cyril's fault as those involved in the scandal range from Government departments to the insurance industry and legal firms fighting on behalf of Turner and Newall.

The rows over pleural plaques is one such example and the campaign for justice for its victims continues to this day.

Whilst Scotland has agreed legislation, The Damages (Asbestos-Related Conditions) (Scotland) Bill, which will allow victims to continue to claim compensation through the courts for pleural plaques, pleural thickening and asbestos-related conditions; the Government is still holding off with the House of Lords recently ruling against the victims of this terrible condition. The CWU and other trade unions are demanding legislation to reverse the ruling and re-introduce compensation payments for victims.

The Government is expected to announce its decision in November following a 3 month long consultation process. 

Finally, now that Cyril's involvement in the Asbestos cover up is once again a national story, perhaps the editor of the local Rochdale Observer has some explaining to do?

You can contact the Rochdale Observer and make your views known here

Read Derek Maylor's letter to The Rochdale Observer here

Rochdale Observer rebuttal from Cyril Smith here

The New Statesman - Asbestos: The lies that killed

Source: CWU / New Statesman / Daily Mirror / Rochdale Observer / Unionsafety

Designed, Hosted and Maintained by Union Safety Services