New documentary focuses on asbestos industry in developing countries
A leading asbestos lawyer has welcomed a new documentary film directed by Belgian filmmaker Daniel Lambo.
Posted on 25 June 2018
'Breathless' which premiered in the International Film Festival in Brussels on the 24th June, shows how western asbestos companies cynically expanded to the less-developed world in order perpetuate a dangerous industry.
In India, the asbestos industry continues to expand and will cause asbestos-related diseases for decades to come.
It is a story of profit over people, but also of how ordinary people can stand up to corporations.
Harminder Bains, a partner at Leigh Day, and whose father died of the asbestos-related cancer Mesothelioma, said:
“This documentary comes at a crucial time for the asbestos industry. Now it has been banished from most Western countries, it is now looking further afield in order to manufacture its products using this deadly material in order to survive.
“We will be doing all we can to promote this film so that as many people as possible can see how asbestos ruins lives and the lengths the industry will go, travelling the world, to make millions from this killer.”
Krishnendu Mukherjee, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, who represented the Indian victims said:
“There can be no greater injustice, than knowingly exposing the poorest of people to the most harmful of substances, without their knowledge. A person would be rightly charged under criminal law if they did that. It is time, that law recognised the globalised world in which corporations operate”.
In India, the asbestos industry continues to expand and will cause asbestos-related diseases for decades to come.
BREATHLESS - Trailer from Storyhouse on Vimeo.
The documentary from the Storyhouse production company, tells of Eric Jonckheere, whose mother, father and two brothers died from mesothelioma, who travels to the largest asbestos dump in India to find a community affected by the same Belgian company.It is a story of profit over people, but also of how ordinary people can stand up to corporations.
Harminder Bains, a partner at Leigh Day, and whose father died of the asbestos-related cancer Mesothelioma, said:
“This documentary comes at a crucial time for the asbestos industry. Now it has been banished from most Western countries, it is now looking further afield in order to manufacture its products using this deadly material in order to survive.
“We will be doing all we can to promote this film so that as many people as possible can see how asbestos ruins lives and the lengths the industry will go, travelling the world, to make millions from this killer.”
Krishnendu Mukherjee, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, who represented the Indian victims said:
“There can be no greater injustice, than knowingly exposing the poorest of people to the most harmful of substances, without their knowledge. A person would be rightly charged under criminal law if they did that. It is time, that law recognised the globalised world in which corporations operate”.