The 10th session of the Eternit trial has been addressed to explore the issue of the environmental disaster: the huge contamination of the river Po, the spread of the "polverino" ('dust', a term also used to define the waste matter that Eternit normally gave to the citizens) in Casale and Cavagnolo. The mayors bore witnesses

The hearing started with the survey of an independent expert consultant, the geologist Laura Turconi, who showed and described the morphological changes of the river Po during the period 1966 - 1986, the last two decades of Eternit production. The gravel bed of the river hosted a 20 tons per week of asbestos debris and production waste. The slag heap on the Po's bank drew the new map of the river, creating the locally notorious "spiaggetta", (little beach). This was a place that all the Casale's citizens over 40 years old have experienced as a place of leisure, for pick nick, fishing and resting. All the kids used to come here for a swim because it was the only smooth river bank nearby.

Let's count: 20 tons/week means 940 tons/year of dry waste. This is equivalent to approximately 650 cubic meters per year. If we consider a timespan of 50 years, the total amount raises up to 32.000 metric tons of wast into the river. The river has been cleaned up in the late 90s. [READ THE COMPLETE survey on RIVER PO - IN ITALIAN .pdf]

The second deposition of the day has been given by the current mayor of Casale Monferrato, Giorgio Demezzi. The mayor, elected ten months ago, reported the sad situation of the current epidemic in Casale, where around 50 individuals are dieing per year for mesothelioma (the asbestos cancer) in Casale, a town of 35.000 people. "But we know, according to the experts, that the peack of the deaths in Casale we'll get in 2020, so the toll could only raise until that moment".

The mayor also reminded the great effort that the local institution made (and is still making) to decontaminate the area. After the italian Eternit bankruptcy in 1986, firstly the municipality had to acquire the plant, the warehouse and the surrounding area. Then they had to think up a way to get rid of the plant: in fact it was the first attempt, worldwide, to clean up such a huge site and it costed the double than the expected budget, 10 million euros.

Prosecutor Guariniello asked to mayor Delmezzi about the defendant's involvement in the cleaning: "Have you, or the previous mayors, ever had any contact with Mr Schmidheiny or Mr Cartier de Marchienne? Have they played any role in the docontamination, according to your knowledge?". "No, I never heard about it" answered Delmezzi.

"Wich was the preservation status of the plant after the end of the production?" asked the prosecutor.

"Full of asbestos bags and tons of contaminated materials in the open air. The area was unsafe and easy to access too".

The mayor of Cavagnolo, Franco Sampò has been deeply involved in the asbestos hepidemic on a private level also. His father worked at the SACA plant (the local Eternit) from 1947 till the closing in 1982. He died in 1998 with the chest entirely full of fibres, 100% of asbestosis. His mother, housekeeper, also died for a mesothelioma. Her guilt has been only the cleaning of the husband's overalls.

He reminded the dust all around the plant and the lack of knowledge about the asbestos hazard in his 2500 people village. As a mayor, he reported the daily task of facing the citizens' anxiety of getting sick. The contamination in fact affected everybody and every place.

The asbestos waste has been given to the people that used it, along 70 years, to make gardens, farm yard, roofings and garden shed. A football pitch was also made of asbestos. The circumstances of the decontaminations has been pretty similar to what reported by his colleague from Casale Monferrato. [Read the original DEPOSITION given by Sampò during the investigation in 2009, in .pdf (italian)]

Finally, the last witness has been invited to speak. He is Michele Attardo, worker at Eternit of Casale Monferrato from 1975 to 1982. After his general presentation, the deposition has been suddently stopped by the defendant lawyer Alessio Di Amato that refused the testimony.

Di Amato claimed that the judge has previously created the criterion of hearing only two witnesses for each subject of charge and mr Attardo would be the third witness examinated about the production at Eternit of Casale, after Pondrano and Buffa. The judge admitted the request and the witness has been rejected.

In the next hearing, on May 10th, we'll listen to the Piedmont governor and the former mayor of Casale Monferrato.

(By Asbestos Victims Families Casale, Asbestos in the dock, 04/05/2010)