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Stone
broke up in powder of yarns deadly,
sting of poisonous slate,
damage that fall ill the people without rest,
when do you leave us peaceful and will flee
of our lives, giving back the life?
Miquel Sánchez
Asbestosis
has been one of the characteristic illnesses of XX century, mainly of the
second half of century.
This
website tries to fill humbly an empty space in Spain about asbestosis. The
illness has been maintained in absolute silence, hidden in a corner. Nobody
wanted to disturb the responsible people of illness spread. Nobody wanted to
disturb the responsible politicians who were subsidiary responsible men of
imperfections of private companies.
Cerdanyola
is placed at 15 Km. from Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, in the Spanish
Kingdom. It was a village of one thousand people at the beginning of XX
century and close to 60.000 people at the beginning of XXI century.
Cerdanyola was the first place in Spain where the asbestos-cement products
were manufactured since 1907. Cerdanyola had as industrial image the
asbestos-cement plant built by Roviralta brothers, named “Manufacturas
Roviralta”, changed to “Manufactures Eternit” in 1933. Finally, after
the Civil War, in 1943 ownership changed to Juan March Ordinas, the finance
sponsor of dictator Franco, and “Uralita, S. A.” was the new name. As
the Cerdanyola plant started in 1907, it was the first town in Spain where
the asbestosis appeared.
For
obvious reasons (dictatorship times), the asbestosis complaints started when
the general Franco died and the democracy was instituted in Spain. The first
complaints and denunciations of Uralita, S. A.’s workers started in 1977.
“Comisiones Obreras”, a trade union, was the first movement in favour of
ill workers of asbestosis. Workers reports and several articles in
newspapers contributed to give knowledge about asbestosis to citizens. It
happened in despite of company’s efforts to accept the asbestosis as a
professional illness and the administration to refuse any connection between
the job with asbestos fibres and the asbestosis.
After
some years of silence, since 1997 the asbestosis has been known in radio,
television and press, due to the “Comisiones Obreras” complaints and
some law companies as “Col.lectiu Ronda” of Barcelona. Finally,
asbestosis is known for the citizens as a professional and incurable
illness.
This
website would be on live testimony about the asbestos presence in Cerdanyola
since 1911 up to now, with all repercussions on the environmental and human
health.
Cerdanyola
was named as “university and technological town” in the last eighties,
but unfortunately it could be named as “asbestosis town”, too.
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