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Asbestos – a famous victory |
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Wednesday, 16 April 2008 |
March 13 was a big day for Cerader 24, a local association for the defence of asbestos victims. It marked the delivery of a reserved judgment in the Périgueux Social Security Tribunal in favour of eight former employees of SNPE (Société nationale des poudres et des explosifs) and two of SNCF, all of them ill from many years’ exposure to the cancer-producing fibre (three have already died).
The judge awarded the maximum extra pension, together with damages from E32,000 to E150,000, in recognition of the employers’ admitted “inexcusable fault” at the Bergerac explosives factory.
Daniel Poumeyrol, vice-president of Cerader 24 and himself an asbestosis sufferer, warmly welcomed the judgement as a first in the battle, and said it would give heart to other asbestos victims both at the Bergerac works and at other explosives factories throughout France. Further hearings are to follow.
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