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Mesothelioma: A Killer
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Hardie should fund cure: victim
September 21, 2004
A MESOTHELIOMA sufferer whose father died from the same disease said today James Hardie Industries should be forced to fund research into a cure and not just compensation.
Following a six-month inquiry, Commissioner David Jackson today found that James Hardie Industries had broken the corporations law and misled the public when it claimed it had put aside enough money to meet its asbestos liabilities, which could now total $2.24 billion.
Mr Jackson criticised chief executive Peter Macdonald for falsely stating the company's asbestos liabilities were "fully funded", and recommended the company's proposal of setting up a statutory scheme as the best option for resolving the funding crisis.
But Perth resident Frank Spadanuda, 49, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma in April this year, said while the company had a responsibility to look after people who became ill because of its products, it also had an obligation to fund research into asbestos-related diseases.
"Governments can't keep up the funding for research," the father of two said.
"James Hardie should be forced to pay. I think that is the most important thing – to look for a cure."
Mr Spadanuda was exposed to asbestos when as a child he visited his father at work at the James Hardie factory in the Perth suburb of Welshpool.
Mr Spadanuda's father died from mesothelioma in 1988.
"It's good that they're finally being made to accept their responsibilities in relation to asbestos diseases," Mr Spadanuda said.
But, Mr Spadanuda – who has lodged a compensation claim through the Asbestos Diseases Society – said he believed company executives should face industrial manslaughter charges.
"To me that's what it actually is. Someone who carries on a business knowing that it's affecting the people that work there, to me that's just murder," he said.
At a time when he should be enjoying the rewards of years of hard work, Mr Spadanuda said he was faced with the prospect of surgery, chemotherapy "and spending every day trying to stay alive as long as I can".
"My kids are only 25 and 26 years old. Hopefully I get to see them married, and hopefully I get to see grandchildren," he said.
AAP
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UPDATE:James Hardie Misled Investors On Asbestos-Inquiry By Morag MacKinnon Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES SYDNEY (Dow Jones)--James Hardie Industries NV (JHX) misled shareholders when it said in February 2001 that it had set aside sufficient funds to compensate victims of asbestos, a government inquiry found Tuesday.
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