| Julie Bishop defends bid to stop asbestos compo
DEPUTY Liberal leader Julie Bishop has defended her efforts to deny compensation to WA asbestos victims in her role as a corporate lawyer in the 1980s. In Australia's greatest single industrial disaster, an estimated 1000 people living and working near the mine at Wittenoom have died from asbestos-related diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. Ms Bishop, the federal Opposition's industrial relations spokeswoman, confirmed her role as an instructing solicitor for mine owner CSR in cases involving three asbestos victims who worked at the mine. But she rejected a plea from the Asbestos Diseases Society to apologise for her actions. Ms Bishop said on Friday she commiserated with those affected, who included CSR executives, whom she had represented. "I have enormous sympathy for those who suffered asbestos-related diseases," she said in a statement to The Australian.
Australia: Asbestos sufferer and campaigner Bernie Banton dies at 61
Well-known asbestosis campaigner Bernie Banton died on November 27 at his Sydney home from asbestos-related peritoneal mesothelioma. Banton, who was 61, contracted the disease, along with asbestosis and an asbestos-related pleural condition, when working on asbestos products from 1968 to 1974 for building materials manufacturer James Hardie Industries (JHIL). Over the past three years Banton became the public face of a campaign against JHIL after it was revealed in 2004 that the Medical Research and Compensation Fund (MRCF) set up by the company to supposedly meet the claims of thousands of asbestosis sufferers had been deliberately under-funded. JHIL set up the MRCF in 2001, closing its two asbestos products subsidiaries in Australia and relocating its head office to the Netherlands.
Banton gives evidence from hospital bed
GRAVELY ill asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton gave evidence today from his hospital bed in a bid for exemplary damages from a James Hardie company. Judge John O'Meally convened the Dust Diseases Tribunal hearing in the palliative care unit of Concord Hospital where Mr Banton is being treated for terminal cancer. Mr Banton has suffering from peritoneal mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer. He gave evidence today to support his contention that he did not receive exemplary damages in his first settlement from former employer Amaca, a James Hardie subsidiary company. Mr Banton received $800,000 in compensation in July 2000 for asbestosis, an asbestos-related lung disease. He filed a further claim in August this year after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Men handled deadly fibres without knowing it
Construction workers who removed deadly asbestos from a 1920s Christchurch building this week had no idea what they were handling and did not wear protective gear, say Christchurch City Council staff. The demolition site in Fitzgerald Avenue was shut down by the Department of Labour on Wednesday, and asbestos specialists were called in to decontaminate the site. Workers began demolishing the 1920s former waterworks building at 170 Fitzgerald Avenue on Monday and began removing the asbestos on Tuesday. Two workers that removed the asbestos with no protection have exposed themselves to a major health risk. Asbestos, a natural material made up of tiny fibres, was often used for building insulation. If inhaled, the fibres can lodge in the lungs, leading to cancer (mesothelioma) or scarring of the lungs (asbestosis).
Homes in a mining center in Quebec are severely contaminated with ...
U.S. and Canadian researchers took soil, air and dust samples in Thetford Mines in 2004. They found asbestos levels that would not be permitted in the United States under current regulations, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Residents of Thetford Mines have a high risk of developing diseases like lung cancer, mesothelioma -- a cancer of the lining of the lung that is only caused by asbestos exposure -- and asbestosis. These diseases can develop years after exposure, and many experts say there is no safe level of asbestos.
Diane Lapointe said her mother died last year of mesothelioma even though she moved away from the town at age 23. But she said people who still live there don't like to talk about the problem because the asbestos mine means jobs.
"They say it's keeping the town alive," Lapointe said.
Banton deserves state funeral, says union
Brian Parker, the assistant secretary of the NSW branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), today told Southern Cross Broadcasting he planned to speak to Mr Banton's family about their wishes regarding a funeral. When asked if Bernie Banton deserved a state funeral, like media mogul Kerry Packer received, Mr Parker said: "Kerry Packer was a good man but Bernie Banton is a lot better man." Mr Parker said all Australians were affected by Mr Banton's important work. "It's a very, very sad day, we've lost a great man," he said. Last Thursday, Mr Banton won a confidential payout as compensation for his terminal mesothelioma. In 2000, he was awarded $800,000 compensation for asbestosis exposure from working at James Hardie's Camellia facility in Sydney's western suburbs between 1968 to 1974.
Developer lays out plan for Imperial Sugar Company site
The old will be new again in Sugar Land if the development of the Imperial Sugar Company property proceeds as planned. Cherokee Investment Partners and Southern Land Company unveiled in a public meeting Wednesday night the final proposal for the development of the century-old Imperial Sugar Company refinery and adjacent land. The proposal will be submitted to the City Council in February. The refinery, one of Texas' oldest companies, closed in 2003. By 2009, the developer expects to begin the transformation of the property into an old-fashioned neighborhood with community meeting spaces and streets lined with trees. The project, which stretches over 650 acres, would include an estimated 800 to 1,000 new homes as well as commercial retail space. The unveiling of the proposal comes after final adjustments were made to plans developed during a week-long planning session held in September.
Chamber of Commerce vows to punish anti-business candidates
The warning from the nation's largest trade association came against a background of mounting popular concern over the condition of the economy. A weak record of job creation, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, declining home values and other problems have all helped make the economy a major campaign issue.
Presidential candidates in particular have responded to the public concern. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina has been the bluntest populist voice, but other front-running Democrats, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, have also called for change on behalf of middle-class voters.
On the Republican side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- emerging as an unexpected front-runner after winning the Iowa caucuses -- has used populist themes in his effort to woo independent voters, blasting bonus pay for corporate chief executives and the effect of unfettered globalization on workers.
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