09.10.07
Asbestos Part 2
“If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.”
Proverbs 9:12
Last week I finished reading Fatal Deception by Michael Bowker. His book was about asbestos and the asbestos industry. He details how it had been known for more than 70 years that asbestos was a health hazard, yet various corporations continued to mine it and distribute it while purposely hiding documentation from the public and their own workers that their workers were falling ill and dying due to the asbestos fibers. Yeah, I know. Poisoning our environment on a grand scale has been going on for about a century now. No new news there. Only seven of the U.S. states have not be labeled with a superfund site. Reform often is slow and hard earned. Cries for reform have often fallen on deaf ears. However, I don’t only blame corporations, government, the talking heads, and big business for exposing us to health-damaging substances, but also part of the reason that that our environment and our health continues to be poisoned and polluted is because we (the workers and consumers) allow it. Not only do we allow it, we crave it and protect it. The town of Libby, Montana was a glaring example of that to me.
For anyone who remembers the story of Libby, Montana and their asbestos-contaminated vermiculite, the number of deaths due to asbestos and the numbers currently dying of asbestos related diseases may come to mind. By the time some of the cries for help in the very small town of Libby were heard in 1999, close to 200 miners and townspeople had already died from asbestos, and over 1000 more were diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases. What was shocking was that this “known” exposure was going on for more than 60 years. How could something like this happen? As evidenced from court proceedings, the asbestos companies with the aid of government agencies kept this secret hush, hush by basically concealing information and ignoring complaints. But was that enough to keep the lid on? No. “Some” of the miners and residents themselves helped keep the lid on because they did not want the secret to be exposed. But “why?” one might ask.
There are actually multiple reasons to why a town would knowingly allow themselves to be slowly poisoned to death. Some of the more understandable reasons is that some people are just hard-working people who don’t like to complain. Some people are just happy to have a job so that they can feed their families. And so they expose themselves to hazards willingly. Unfortunately, these workers didn’t realize that they were also poisoning their families as they brought the dust home on their clothes. Then there are others who are just ignorant of the fact that they are slowly poisoning themselves to death. This is where the line starts to form. This is where the companies and government agencies need to be humane and inform these people. If these companies want to continue to operate, then they should protect their employees with the proper equipment and protective gear. Unfortunately, many times we have found that this is not done. And finally the worse reason people allow themselves to be poisoned is because of greed. In the town of Libby, those who were crying for help to clean up the asbestos were being road-blocked by their own neighbors because they were afraid that their town would be known as a toxic site and therefore, it would drive away businesses and they would not be able to sell property, etc. How evil is that? Let some poor, unwitting soul buy an asbestos-contaminated house and environment with a high likelihood of dying of asbestos poisoning, just so that the realtor could make a buck. But it happens time and time again. There are people who know about the dangers and hazards, but continue to hide the facts so that they can continue running their businesses regardless of who gets hurt in the end. These kinds of people have existed throughout history, and as dangerous as they are, will likely continue to exist into however far the future will take us. I realize we don’t know which kind of person we will run into. And since there are those kinds of people in this world, I know that we can not always help everyone. But we do have the option and the ability to help ourselves. The Bible tells us that “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” And so I am reminded also of what the Bible tells us of knowledge. It is something we should seek because it is something that we can use to help ourselves.
Proverbs 9:12
“If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.”
Marlakins
