The Multitopic Blog

The first instance of legal action having been brought against asbestos manufacturers was in 1929. The lawsuit was settled between the parties and as part of the agreement the attorneys of the aggrieved agreed not to pursue cases any further. But it was not until 1960 that an article published by Wagner et al established mesothelioma as a diseases caused by exposure to crocidolite asbestos. The article reported over 30 case studies of people who had been afflicted by mesothelioma in South Africa. Some of the exposed people had contracted it through transient exposure while some of the affected were mine workers. In 1962 the case of an Australian asbestos worker who had worked in a mill in an asbestos mine between 1948 & 1950 & was suffering from malignant mesothelioma was reported by McNulty.

Mine waste containing asbestos was used to cover schoolyards and playgrounds in Wittenoom and an article published in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine in 1965 established that people who lived in neighbourhoods with asbestos factories & mines, but did not work in them had contracted mesothelioma just like those who had worked in the mines.

Inspite of proof that the dust from asbestos mines & mills causes asbestos related disease, mining still was started at Wittenoom in 1943 and continued there until 1966. The first time the dangers of blue asbestos were publicly announced was through a cover story in Australia’s Bullet magazine called “Is this killer in your home?” The Government of Western Australia in 1978 decided to phase out the town of Wittenoom, after the publication of a booklet “The Health Hazard at Wittenoom” by the Health Dept. which contained the results of air sampling and an overview of medical information on asbestos related diseases from all over the world.

The first writs alleging negligence related to Wittenoom were issued against CSR & its subsidiary ABA in 1979, and the Asbestos Diseases Society was formed to represent the victims of the Wittenoom mines.