Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-04-10-Speech-3-209"
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"en.20020410.7.3-209"2
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"Mr President, in the 60s and 70s, asbestos was considered a universal remedy in construction, in industry and as a subsurface for roads. Meanwhile, many victims who have inhaled asbestos dust have died from it. Long after it was known how destructive asbestos is in people, this relatively cheap material was still used in different countries.
Even now that its use will end in 2005 at the latest, we will still be contending with its harmful legacy for a long time. In the next 30 years, half a million people will become disabled and die prematurely in western Europe alone, because the illness often does not become apparent until long after infection. The demand for damages, other forms of compensation, disability pension and widows’ and orphans’ pensions is only right and proper.
Asbestos is used in buildings, appliances and vehicles in numerous locations, and it must be disposed of expertly. In the Eastern states that wish to join the European Union, the problem is even greater, partly because, in the countryside, houses there are built using roofs and facades that are entirely made of asbestos sheets of Russian origin.
The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy has, in 15 additional amendments, mainly attempted to draw attention to people who have never worked with asbestos themselves, but who can become infected, such as family members, residents of dwellings that contain asbestos or people in the vicinity of asbestos-removal activities. We must assume that every building from the asbestos era contains asbestos unless, on the basis of independent evidence, it is proven otherwise beyond any doubt.
The proposals which I support are also aimed at making registers for all Member States and candidate countries compulsory, together with inspections of authorised scrapyards and a restriction on the transport of disposed asbestos to a distance of 500 km. In addition, the European Commission is invited to make proposals before the end of 2003 for the compensation and protection of victims who are not exposed to asbestos through their work, also in those cases in which the source of contamination is unknown or the company responsible no longer exists."@en1
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