Document O1VxVB1G76a4zn7NjJMm5rkxv

FILE NAME: Eternit (ETER) DATE: 0000 DOC#: ETER020 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: Book Excerpt by D. Zitta - The Eternit-lndustry -R-E-F-E-R-E-N-C-E--t-o- p-.-79!`THE ETERNIT-INDUSTRY . .. . .. regard discussions concerning asbestos as not beinng of their concern. The heir to the ETERNIT is quoted (Max Schmidheiny 1984) that the Swiss Eternit, in any cpse, poses no danger and that all the hype dates back to the '60s,; he(Mr.S),heard about the BERLIN ETERNIT for the 1st time from _ _ Mr.Selikoff, and it was being said that Mr. Selikoff is a little bit crazy, and that he is doing research mainly to make a buck. An we said, that ETERNIT is not at all dangerous because the fibers are imbedded. absolutrely no danger. And that is a fact. There is . .The First acommodations for foreign workers were built in 1961 immediately .located behind the factory. Business was expanding at tremendous speed. In 1964 it becomes evident a more and better technological approach is necessary in order to keep up with the tremendous demands -- a new computer is to be installed. p.80: The international market is enlightened by the ETERNIT PR in English, German French. A 1960 edition of ETERNIT publication is devoted entirely to the use of the product in agricultural environments such as farmhouses in Japan, central milking stations in Belgium, pig stys in Ireland, the _ housekeeping building in a cloister for nuns in Bavaria and in a building where beef is tested in England, as well as various new farmhouses in the Canton Schaffhausen.. pvSli-This scaaic beatification of the ETERNIT P.R. is being disrupted by the . .. , warnings emanating from the U.S. as to dangers of cancer causing factors from asbestos, to which ETERNIT again has the one reply: 'It is not .: .. .dangerous because.the fibres are imbedded in the cement.' Thus espouses in 1984 Max Schmidheiny, whose statement was taped and later cited. p.94i Dr.. Stephan Schmidheiny (son of Max, dr.jurisprudence), Worked in an asbestos factory in Sao Paulo and states that no one ever mentioned .... dangers incurred from, asbestos... In 197.3 Stephan works in South Africa. At 27 years of age he becomes the president of ETERNfT . On a trip to .-- .-Sweden he.encounters opposition and prohibition to asbestos. The Communist faction in the Swedish Parliament put through a bill in 1972 to ban asbestos from the market completely. Stephan refers to it .as the'Swedish Shock'. He explains the consequences to the Board which is unwilling to heed the warning in light of the tremendous1financial successes of the company. Following the warning begun in Sweden, the IMF (International Union of Metal Workers) takes up the theme on the dangers of asbestos which is now spreading over Northern Europe. Consequences: Sweden bans asbestos; ETERNIT registers bankruptcy. p .97: Since 1984 Stephan Schmidheiny is the rightful owner of the company, i.e. time of all the holdings in Switzerland and abroad. He initiates for the first environmental protection in the factories. Nonetheless in comparison with th Austrian factories, Swiss.still register more asbestos and asbestos ` induced cancer. p. 98: Dallas and Denver are mentioned which produce asbestos cement. * p.101: In 1978 the first asbestos-free NT-plate was put into production. NT means the use of substitutes. THE- INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM OF INNOVATION BY THE SWISS E T E R N I T - G R O U P ........... p.118: 'Th program of NT is equally applicable to Costa Rica as well as Brazil, South Africa, Germany or in Switzerland.' > -Stephan Schmidheiny p.119: In cooperation with the Japanese chemical corporation Kuraray, as well as with the Hoechst corporation in Germany :a synthetic^ fibre was produced which, however, is much more expansive and therefore the endproduct bears a higher price. This new fibre 'Kuralon' has been approved by the American Food & Drug Administration. The same applies to the new fiber 'Dolanit'. Research for new material is continually underway such as the so-called 'Cocktail' fibre. Switzerland employs many guest workers from Turkey, Jugoslavia, Spain, Italy. The new methods for produeing 1 the synthetic material affords re=schooling of the labor force which knows only how to work with asbestos. Many of the labor force are puzzled that inspite of the introduction for protective safe conduct, asbestos use is being phased out. 3- p.127: THE LAST PURCHASE OF ASBESTOS thus says G.F.de Rio the director of RICALIT, the only asbestos company . in Costa Rica, founded by Max Schmi-:-dheiny in 1963. The 20-year old . . company will, from now on, produce only NT products.. RICALIT becomes thus the first company which produces only NT-fibres since Stephan Schmidheiny's takeover of the corporation. P .135; The seat of the largest ETERNIT company is Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was p . 142: started in 1941, underwent a crisis during the recession period, picked up again and since 1975 enjoys constant growth. A third company in Salvador began production in 1967, the company in Rio (1949) was modernized and new companies went into production in Goiania and Curitibia. The director of the Brazilian branch hopes that by 1990 the questions of asbestos danger will become resolved. However, it is difficult to do anything about it right now because of the poor economic condition which Brazil faces right now in the world market. p.143: The Eldorado for the asbestos industry is South Africa. In 1980 The Swiss ETERNIT-Group sold its part to the ASBESTOS MINING INVESTMENTS, however, lessened world-wide demand for asbestos products also affected the mines in South Africa,. The African labor force iscuneducated, illite ... . rate. and.exposed, in great measure to the dangers of .asbestos. Since this job at the mines is their only means of subsistence, and growing unemployment a '.threat, they continue to work under.'substandard conditions. Although some sort of medical supervision has been in existence now ior some year in the working environment, once the worker leaves the place of of employement there is no further medical follow up. The black workers p .145&uffering from asbestosis receive a compensation of 2200 Francs, and the .. ____white workers 30 000 francs plus a pension. The black worker lives in segregated surroundings. Children play in aban : . . doned asbestos mines in contrast to the well kept housing of the whites. This of course, is dynamite for the racial attitudes of this capitalistic system -- the apatheid policy. jg^l5d: Because of the recently founded and strengthening membership of unions the peaceful times of undisturbed production have ceased, as it was when apartheid remained unchallenged. The breakthrough came finally in 1983, with the challenge to the question regarding the asbestos sick workers in the factory. The South African EVERIT-Management received thereupon directives from Switzerland to recognize the Black Workers Union and to begin negotiations. EVERIT informed the press that it will compen sate the workers in question. The union representatives refused the Management's generous offer and demanded that x-rays taken of the sick workers be evaluated by an impartial physician. All those workers who for several years had been exposed to a high degree of asbestos dust went so far as to allow their physical examination not only by physicians associated with the company but also by Dr. Selikoff at the Mount Sinai hospital in New York. The EVERIT company finally handed over the 110 x-ray pictures taken of workeds who had already been dismissed to the physician appointed by the XHHipHHjr, Dr. J.Myer, who in 10 of the evaluated .cases did not agree with the diagnosis of the company appointed physician,. Ultimately there was an agreement reached by the two parties. p.155: As the best examples for the innovative program NT serve Switzerland, Germany, Costa Rica, Brazil and South Africa* ifcxis Decentralization of ETERNIT makes it now easier to control asbestos production. In Germany tedious, precise rules make it more difficult, than fpr example in E T j Salvador, to let the product through which does not meet the rigorous and specific standards of production. However, all is not well. . p.157 :The case of the French ETERNIT brought to light -- through the press -- ,, the use of asbestos in the processing of wine, (the filtering of wine) p,162; The Johns-Manville case under investigation since 1983, disassociated itself from the Jeffrey-^nes xnxfeHadax. A group, of Canadian financiers under Peter kyle, is interested to become the buyer of the Jeffrey^iines