The Mayor of Napoli, Rosa Russo Iervolino, reminds the terror spreaded by the asbestos exposure in the area of Bagnoli and Campi Flegrei, north of Naples. The former governors of Campania, Antonio Bassolino and the governor of Emilia Romagna Vasco Errani backed the prosecutor's theory of an environmental disaster with serious consequences on the public health.

The public hearing hosted today in the first maxi courtroom of the Palace of Justice of Torino the representatives of those locale State institutions that signed up for the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Eternit, called by the prosecutor to testify.

The common purpose of their deposition was clear: to portrait the stream of disaster made by the Eternit presence in Italy, giving a global picture of the epidemic in the areas where the plants were. One idea get boosted after the hearing of the 16th session: the Eternit drama is not just an occupational issue related to the past times, but a social health problem of the current days.

One person has depicted this situation better than anybody else: the Mayor of Naples, Rosa Russo Iervolino. In a sharp and vibrant deposition, Mrs Iervolino narrated "the fear, or better said the terror that nowaday exists among the people of Bagnoli", the city where the second italian Eternit plant was located. In fact, the long latency period of the asbestos related diseases lets believe that the apex of the asbestos epidemic will reach around 2012.

In the Eternit plant of Bagnoli - reminded the Mayor of Napoli - there were only four showers for men and three for the women, there weren't any laundry service so that the cleaning of the overalls was a daily duty of the worker's wives, at home. This situation, the same in all the italian Eternit plants, furthered the spreading of the asbestos epidemic, entering the private spaces of the house and laying the kids life on the line.

Moreover "the safety masks were essentially non-existent" and "the medical screenings made inside the plant were humble, because everybody was there in a line and if something serious appeared the certain answer was alway: You got a little bronchitis, take care with smoking>>. And never, after the emergence of this early disease symptom, any proper treatment has been started to help the worker".

The former governor of the Campania region, Antonio Bassolino, reported the phases of the long and expensive decontamination process. Along ten years of works (50% of the cleaning has been done so far), the public company Bagnoli Futura already spent 60 millions euro. At least 30 millions more are needed to end up the decontamination process. The human price of the asbestos tragedy in Bagnoli is even heavier.

The data of the asbestos related pathologies in Bagnoli reports 891 victims among the Eternit workers of a total of 2348 workers (136 asbestosis, 94 lung cancer and 31 mesothelioma). Many other victims among the citizens are supposable and ten worker's women felt sick of cancer.

The scenario in the area of Rubiera, in Emilia Romagna, is still disturbing but less upsetting. The governor Vasco Errani and the mayor of Rubiera, Lorena Baccarani, reported a number of 55 victims with a price for the public health system estimated in 20.000 euro per head.

Any private funding has been subsidize by private company, all the cost of the cleaning is charged to the State and the local institutions. Rosa Russo Iervolino underlined this concept and claimed that nobody had ever taken contact with the Municipality nor with the workers in order to help in the cleaning.

"We're helping the workers to get organized into a victims association. Instead there were attempts, let's say not very worthy, offering money in exchange for avoiding any lawsuit. This offers has been always rejected and considered as offensive". 50.000 euro to shut up, this was the deal.

How much a human life costs?

This will be the subject of the next hearing, the number 17th. Infact, Romana Blasotti Pavesi, the president of the victims association of Casale, AFEVA, will bear witness on June 28th, 2010. Romana is a master of dignity and a wise person: we guess you already know her answer.

Stay tuned, the struggle goes on.

(By Asbestos Victims Families Casale, Asbestos in the dock, 21/06/2010)