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US Update
Mines
& Communities Website
US Update
20th February 2006
The US Senate has rejected - by one vote - the Asbestos Bill, presented
last year in an attempt to "cap" corporate liabilities for
one of the worst minerals-related diseases.
Although the Bill may be
re-presented later this year, it's more likely to have sunk without
trace.
The proposal divided political parties, trade unions, veterans, and
businesses, although the Democratic party, mineworkers and environmentalists
largely opposed it.
The biggest public relations "guns" were aimed by suporters
of the Bill, notably Dow Chemical.
While flagrantly refusing to settle
claims by victims of the Bhopal conflagration in India, Dow has doled
out at least US$3.6 million to lobbyists to apply pressure in favour
of the bill.
Some of the lesser-known victims of asbestosis - as well as lead and
mercury poisoning -are those employed to clear up the appalling detritus
from the Twin Towers disaster of September 11 2001.
Eighteen months
after the first suit mounted for compensation, many are now suffering
from fatal - and preventable - diseases
Under the Bush regime, only 12 mining violations have attracted maximum
fines (US$60,000), in contrast to six times this number during the previous
half dozen years under Clinton.
It...