Rochdale 'Deaths Must Stop,' says activist Jason Addy

ANTI-ASBESTOS campaigner Jason Addy drew attention last week to a new report by an independent advisory committee that has concluded that children who grew up near an active asbestos plant in Australia were more likely to die from cancer caused by their exposure to the material.  Jason leads Rochdale's Save Spodden Vally (SSV) campaign, that has campaigned for almost a decade against plans to develop the former site of the Turner Brother's Asbestos (TBA) factory near local beauty spot Healey Dell.   This new report comes two-and-a-half years after a scheme to build 600 homes on the site was thrown out by the Rochdale council.

Jason  Addy, who was formerly a delegate on Tameside Trade Union Council, declared:
'For nine long years we have cited various scientific papers that hint at the concern that children are more vulnerable to asbestos.  Our worries centred on any proposals that could place very young children in childcare facilities on top of the site or in homes with gardens were there could come into contact with low level yet significant amounts of asbestos in soil.  (This report could be the final nail in the coffin of attempts to put profits before people).  Rochdale's children must be our main priority.  Our town has suffered enough from the cruel injustice caused by asbestos cancer.  The deaths must stop.'

At present the Rochdale site is owned by an off-shore investment company, but Mr. Addy and his SSV campaign group believe the site should be turned into a park to stop the land being disturbed, and to prevent the deadly asbestos fibres being released into the air.  Mr. Addy said:  'The safest way to ensure this is to take a precautionary approach to the site (with) no mechanical disturbance of the soil.  Cap it and help it become a "green lung" for Rochdale as an extension of Healey Dell.'

The new report by the Committee on Carcinogenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment found that: 
'Exposure of children to asbestos is likely to render them more vulnerable to developing mesothelioma than exposure of adults to the equivalent dose.'