LEGAL HELP CENTER - Asbestos Killed 20 Residents Near Plants

Posted on 2006-02-11 | www.yomiuri.co.jp

The Yomiuri Shimbun

Twenty of 143 people who died of an asbestos-related disease between 2002 and 2004 in Hyogo Prefecture had never worked with asbestos, but had lived in Amagasaki , where asbestos-related factories were located, according to a ministry survey released Thursday.

The result of the study by the Environment Ministry showed that scattered asbestos could be regarded as being harmful to residents living near asbestos-related factories.

In the prefecture, 222 people died of mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer, between 2002 and 2004. The ministry surveyed the relatives of 143 victims, checking victims' occupations, addresses and living environments. Of the 143 victims, 112 were men.

According to the result, 21 of those surveyed regularly dealt with asbestos at their workplace and received workers compensation for the disease.

Eighty-three victims also had some contact with asbestos at their workplace, including working in buildings constructed with asbestos-coated materials.

Out of these cases, some victims were found not to have been covered by workers compensation.

Twenty of the victims, including 13 men, did not have jobs that exposed them to asbestos, but they may have come in contact with asbestos while living, working or going to school in Amagasaki .

Relatives of two female victims reportedly said the victims might have inhaled asbestos while doing housework, such as washing asbestos-stained work clothes. The ministry could not confirm how the other 17 victims came into contact with asbestos.

Major machinery manufacturer Kubota Corp.'s former Kanzaki factory was located in Amagasaki . The firm paid condolence money to nine mesothelioma patients, one of whom died later, and the relatives of 48 people who died of the disease, believing that the asbestos emitted by the factory was responsible for their illnesses and deaths.

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