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Bernie Banton: RIP « Previous | |Next »
November 28, 2007

Bernie Banton, the asbestos campaigner died at 1am Monday morning. He became the representative of people ill and dying from asbestos-related diseases and affected by James Hardie's refusal to fund proper compensation. He lived long enough enough to settle a compensation suit against his old employer, a former subsidiary of James Hardie, and to learn the result of the election.

Bernie.jpg
Alan Moir

Banton worked with Greg Combet and the ACTU to force James Hardie to make compensation for asbestos-related diseases caused by its building products. He helped to set up a $4 billion compensation fund and to help mesothelioma sufferers gain access to a drug to help ease their pain and possibly extend their lives.

The loss of Bernie Banton's life will be deeply mourned though out th nation.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 6:46 AM | | Comments (6)
Comments

Comments

Gary,
I understand that Bernie Banton had been exposed to asbestos during the 1960s and 1970s, when he worked for James Hardie's insulation factory in Sydney. It was only in 1999 that he learned just how toxic that exposure had been, when he developed asbestosis. In August this year he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a cancer for which there is no cure.

A tragic loss.

I can remeber when people had asbestos roofs that ran into water tanks for drinking.
Is it the same sort of asbestos on roofs?

I watched my uncle die of mesothelioma which was traced back to the early '70s when he scrubbed the eaves for painting. It's a dreadful way to die as a result of perfectly innocent activity.

Bernie's death is a great loss.

Asbestos has been a known danger to human life since the late 19 century, but not to those of us who worked in that industry in the 1960s and later, only to the "bosses," and the Insurance industry.

Siemens in Germany in 1905 ordered all workers in their asbostos works to wear mask and coveralls.

Bernie Banton got asbestosis, mesothelioma and an AO. James Hardie got a knighthood.

WE NEED MORE PEOPLE OF THE CALIBRE OF BERNIE BANTON

Is there a chance that they will ever find a cure for this disese and is there an early sign ... i hope so