|
Mr. John Stewart
The Daily Show
Comedy Central
Dear Mr. Stewart,
I am a great fan of yours on the Daily Show. However, as
much as I enjoyed your humor as host of the Oscars, I was
disconcerted by your comment about asbestos. I know
you've heard from others about this, but I feel that I
must add my perspective as a survivor (so far) of
mesothelioma.
I want you to join with asbestos-disease victims and
activists in the battle against the forces that would
continue this carnage. Your presence and reach would add
awareness of the truth in an environment that suppresses
media coverage of this issue.
I'm sure that your comment was intended as sarcastic,
but I'm also sure that most of your audience missed the
sarcasm. My own cancer was caused largely by exposure to
chrysotile asbestos, what the industry loves to call the
"good asbestos" (by way of creating a
"promotable villain" in the words of Fatal
Deception author Michael Bowker). The truth, as I think
you know, is that there is no safe asbestos.
People like me are engaged in a century-long battle to stop
the use of asbestos worldwide and the spread of
asbestos-related diseases. Although there's been some
progress overseas, there's been almost none in the US.
Few Americans know that asbestos is still legal here, that
it's still imported, and that it is likely still used
in products on the American market. We don't know for
sure about its uses, because there is no regulation or
monitoring of the transport and use of this deadly toxin
for commercial and military purposes. My wife and I, and
many others, are working to help end this charade.
The hottest battleground in this ongoing war is currently
the floor of the US Senate, where industry forces are
trying to escape forever the responsibility for the mayhem
and death that they've knowingly caused, and to
maintain their freedom to keep doing the same with
impunity. Their Senate Bill 852, the misnamed
"Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act of
2005," is an assault on the health of Americans and on
the Constitutional right of Americans to seek redress when
wronged.
Asbestos kills a percentage of the people exposed to it.
But asbestos is still intentionally being put into American
products. European and other countries have found suitable
substitutes for every single use of asbestos. Why have we
not adopted these? Because continuing to use asbestos has
been cheaper than investing in changing product designs and
factory processes to accommodate substitutes. As long as
corporations have been able to escape responsibility for
asbestos-related deaths, it's been business as usual
for them.
So let me make an analogy. Like asbestos, anthrax kills a
percentage of the people exposed to it. Would any of us
think of allowing anthrax to be put intentionally into
American products? Would any of us think of protecting the
interests of someone who would profit from doing so?
Wouldn't we expect a very forceful response from
government, from the public, from industry, if we were
talking about anthrax instead of asbestos?
A few weeks ago, when Senate Bill 852 hit the floor of the
Senate, I spoke at a press conference in the LBJ Room of
the Capitol. I chose not to use the anthrax analogy there,
as I did not want to risk being hauled from the building by
overzealous guards. But this kind of language is what
people need to hear, in order to understand how outrageous
the attitude of our Government and industry is. Americans
are incensed at the idea that some clandestine terrorist
group might use weapons like anthrax against us, but our
Government aids and abets American companies in the use of
asbestos against the American people in the name of
increased profits. This has to stop!
I'm attaching my prepared comments from the press
conference for your interest. (Click
here)
Please join with us in this battle. The lives of future
generations and the rights of American citizens are at
stake.
Paul S. Zygielbaum
Santa Rosa, CA
|