Court: Federman's firmwill fund half of the asbestos removal north
The High Court rejected the company's petition against asbestos law stating that it fund the evacuation of up to 150 million, "the lack of care at risk of asbestos - like as the exposure of citizens ticking health bomb"
17:15
04/02/2013
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Landmark ruling: High
Court rejected (c) the petition of the company "Us", a manufacturer
and marketer of material against the cancer-causing asbestos asbestos law
requiring it to pay half the cost of the cleanup project in the Western Galilee asbestos soils - up to a maximum of 150
million. Judges Gronis, Handel and Zilbertal, determined that the company was
the dominant factor Asbestos marketing business over the years and therefore
knew the scientific research on the dangers of using the substance. society
also imposed court costs of $ 200 thousand shekels.
Asbestos removal in
Nahariya
Photo: Yuval dipped
Asbestos Hazards Prevention Law, the Knesset passed two years
ago, prohibits any new use of asbestos production and states that within a few
years be evacuated asbestos waste sites across the country special. Section
precedential law, against which appealed to us, requires her to pay half the
cost of the evacuation, by virtue of being the company that manufactured the
asbestos for decades.
The petition
claimed Federman family owned company, with Dan Hotels that it does not even
now pollutes, as this is not scattered and hid the asbestos in the North, but the
end users (individuals, agencies and state institutions) that Make the dangers
of asbestos. " Another
argument was that the law now imposes retroactive liability by law that did not
exist in that work.
Respondents in the
petition, including the state, the Ministries of Finance and Environment, and
the Man, Nature and Law and the environment and live in Nahariya, warned that
granting the petition would cause tremendous damage to northern residents and
the entire Israeli public: "This can include a message to polluters, which
they may enjoy the freedom to make risky activity, Even if it is done
consciously, as long as there is no explicit legal prohibition sharp - cut in
its causation, "the response of the Association for Environmental Defense
Justice.
The judges rejected
arguments from us and determined that the manufacturer has increased
responsibility and financial burden on him "are considerations of justice
and fairness and economic efficiency considerations." The
judges also stated that the "lack of care at risk of asbestos - like
health as the exposure of citizens ticking bomb."
"This is a
precedent-setting ruling and breakthrough regarding the manufacturer's
warranty," says Mr. Amit Bracha, Executive Director, Environmental
Defense, "High Court decision puts the public interest and marks the
center of polluting companies as" us, "that the proper resources are
invested cancel environmental laws and regulations, will be for the benefit of
many people over the years who are exposed to serious health hazards as a
result of environmental hazards. "
Over many years
asbestos was a big hit in Israel,
and is used in orchards, barns, sheds, roads and highways, backyards and public
institutions. But
already in the 50s began to be published studies indicating a link between
exposure to asbestos and severe lung disease and mortality, and now has been
known for certain that asbestos fibers suspended in the air can enter the lungs
and sink them.
Two diseases
characteristic of asbestos exposure are asbestosis, a disease that causes
severe damage to the lungs and develops decade after exposure, and
mesothelioma, a fatal cancer counterattack after 20 to 40 years from the date
of exposure to asbestos.
Data from the National
Cancer Registrar of the Ministry of Health from 2009: Nahariya area located at
the world's second deadliest cancer cases type of disease mesothelioma.
Experts estimate that
in the next expect an increase in the incidence because of the long period in
which the disease develops.According to the data, the proportion of patients
Acre District, which includes the Nahariya, arrived at -2008-2002 to -5.72
patients per 100 thousand inhabitants, compared with 0.55 patients per 100
thousand inhabitants district of Tel Aviv.
As for us because
warranty claims should be imposed also on the end users, the judgment states
that the critical years of asbestos production record "has been with us a
distinct information advantage over the end-users" regarding asbestos
hazards. For example, already
in the 40s, when the mandate was defined occupational disease asbestosis, and
prohibited employment of women and youth in processing asbestos.
In 1969 he visited the
plant Eitanit head of occupational health and hygiene
School for Tropical Diseases in London, wrote a report
after the visit which indicated severe health hazards arising from exposure to
asbestos dust factory.
In 1970, the
organization held a conference of physicians dedicated to employment in Israel asbestos
factory workers - cement. During
the conference it was noted that there is "a clear knowledge of asbestos
lung damage, and multiple cases of asbestosis on the one hand and on the other
hand malignant cancerous degeneration."
But most interesting
of all is a letter sent to the owner and founder of the factory, Yekutiel
Federman in 1976 to
plant manager in which he wrote that "today is a witch hunt against the asbestos industry .. If we get a positive report to prove that the claims are exaggerated and not serious, and that's more dangerous to go street and breathe the gases of cars, and this report prepared by Ernst Bergman Foundation, who is known in the world of science, we will fight in academic and scientific attacks. "
plant manager in which he wrote that "today is a witch hunt against the asbestos industry .. If we get a positive report to prove that the claims are exaggerated and not serious, and that's more dangerous to go street and breathe the gases of cars, and this report prepared by Ernst Bergman Foundation, who is known in the world of science, we will fight in academic and scientific attacks. "
The Court ruled that
"This letter suggests that she was aware of us, already at this stage if
not before, the arguments of Social Welfare at the time of the severe health
risk crowned with asbestos."
Judge Neil admits that
he does not know what was the extent of the knowledge of the end-users
(institutions, kibbutzim, IDF, etc.) about the health risks of asbestos, but
"doubtful us and end users are in the same spot when it comes to knowledge
was or should have been for them. Eitanit is that for decades imported asbestos
crude reworked it into asbestos - cement is prepared from finished products.
fact, she was the dominant factor in the country - if not the only - in this
industrial. virtue of its status recognized Eitanit apparently real-time
scientific research relevant whatever As for the health hazards of asbestos.'s
just a trace of us probably the developments, but also had the rank of 'Viewing
Active research arena. "
Handel states that
there is a huge gap between the base between the users: "Eitanit distinct
from that end users and waste products out of the factory owns .. Eitanit is a
manufacturer of waste. Were end-user customers. These two different groups, the
distinction between them is required."
The Court ruled that
as someone who enjoyed profits of the sale of asbestos contaminant on us lift
fee for evacuation: "She (Eitanit), more than any other factor, has
benefited led to creation of the contaminant hazard. Consideration is relevant
only from an economic perspective, which may justify the transfer financial
burden to the shoulders of the hazard removal manufacturer, but also for
reasons of justice and fairness. Viewed in this way, it is not discrimination
against the petitioner but rather achieving the purpose of the law - 'the
polluter pays'. "
Purpose of the law,
the judgment states, is to reduce the hazards of asbestos in Israel that the
court sets ticking bombs that threaten the peace and health of many people in
the region, "using asbestos removal project. "This
purpose is not only inappropriate, but also consistent with the values of Israel as a Jewish
and democratic state," states the ruling, adding that it "fulfills
the right to health and environmental quality of the region."
Another interesting
fact revealed in the judgment is that the state claims that the areas where
Eitanit is responsible for waste removal, "professional deficiencies were
that led to significant delays in processing." This fact leads to
the conclusion that part of the court that the us could prove that it is
possible to change the payment out independently of the removal project, as
proposed by the company.
"The lack of
waste treatment asbestos will leave many civilians exposed to bomb Health
ticking. Impossible to leave the situation unchanged. Competition between the
imposition of the payment on the shoulders of us, and the imposition of the
payment on the shoulders of the public - link between Eitanit waste a creator
and winner down the scales, or at least allows it, "the ruling states.
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