Retired British MP Accused of Asbestos Cover Up
With more than 4,000 asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma in the United Kingdom it was a shock to residents of Rochdale, England, to learn that a retired member of parliament representing them had declared some years ago that the public at large is “not at risk” from asbestos exposure.
Sir Cyril Smith, Rochdale’s former MP (now retired), allowed the world’s largest asbestos factory, Turner & Newall, to draft the response he made in the House of Commons in 1981. Smith asked Turner & Newall how they would like him to respond to a need for “more regulation” on asbestos and other similar products known to cause asbestos diseases. The issue came to light only recently.
According to an article in the New Statesman magazine, the draft response from Turner & Newall is “identical” to what Smith said in his House of Commons speech, stressing that less regulation on asbestos should be approached with caution. Smith said that all he was doing was underscoring the arguments that “supported the factory’s side of the story” because the company was the town’s main employer.
Turner & Newall reportedly admitted as long ago as 1961 that the only really “safe number of asbestos fibers in the working environment is nil.” Smith said he knew about the dangers of asbestos to the health of the workers because many fell ill at the time but the company employed thousands that did not fall ill and were earning a living there.
