May 18th. a personal anniversary for me. It was ten years ago on May 18th 2003 that I lost a dear friend and comrade John Stewart Simpson, Ian to his friends, destroyed by that vicious killer mesothelioma, (asbestos related lung cancer). A fit 66 year old swimmer and cyclist, in a very short time went from being treated for a bad cough to being diagnosed with with mesothelioma and died six months later. It still hurts.
This rapid vicious killer is no unfortunate event, no unavoidable accident. The health problems from asbestos were known to the powers that be and being written about in the 30's but UK industry continued to use it up until the 60's.
Wealth From Asbestos.
Why no righteous anger from the crowd?
Why no public cry for justice?
Can't they hear those shallow gasps?
Can't they see their brother's pain?
Lungs that measured to the task
strength that made the Clydeside name.
Men who by willing force and skill
built the nations wealth
never knowing the final bill
was destruction of their health.
Now dumped on life's ladder's lowest rung
strewn like wreck across this city:
vibrant lives by asbestos stung
deserve more than passing pity.
Why no righteous anger from the crowd?
Why no public cry for justice?
It was continuous lobbying and forced legislation that eventually put a stop to this killer substance being used in UK industry. At no time were the bosses of industry concerned about the health and well-being of the workers. The United Kingdom has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the
world, largely because asbestos use continued in the UK long after it
was banned in other parts of the world. Because of its wide use in shipbuilding, those in shipbuilding are among the people most affected by mesothelioma, and the
shipbuilding industry played a large role in the industrial history of the United
Kingdom.
The Waiting Game.
Don't tell them it's a killer,
as they work with it to earn their keep.
It's a time-bomb in their lungs,
but, so efficient, so very cheap.
It takes so long to kill
they'll never know who to blame,
They'll probably all be dead
before the couts hear their claim.
It's a time-bomb, it's a killer,
and they knew, ASBESTOS.
Though banned in the UK in the 60's, asbestos continues to kill, in 2008 in the UK, there were 2,249 deaths from mesothemiola and on average, the UK has more than 2,000 deaths each year from this greed driven killer, mesothelioma. Though deaths from this disease are beginning to decline in younger men, overall deaths are expected
to increase by 10-20% over the next 5-10 years. Her we are in 2013 and the unbridled greed of past industries is still killing our people. It's the system friends.
WHEN
THE TIME-BOMB GOES OFF.
The
bike just sits there,
dust
covering its lovely sheen,
puffing
up the Fintry Hills
well,
it’s no longer my scene.
Y’see,
as a Clydeside apprentice
I
proudly learnt the tradesman’s skill,
little
did I know then
the
price, asbestos lungs that kill.
Now
I just sit here through the painful day
gasping
each mouthful of air, wondering
how
can I make the bastards pay.
They
new it was a killer
a
time-bomb in our lungs
but,
because it was so quick and cheap
they
firmly held their tongues.
So
what, if it cost the workman’s life,
there’s
always a couple of new workers
in
the care of the worker’s wife.
Please
try to understand my anger
as
I and others bear their cost,
a
slow death from asbestos lungs,
a
vibrant life lost.
Anguish
for family and friends,
all
in the name of profit;
now
that really does offend.
Our
anger without direction
is
a blind archer behind the bow,
we
have to use our anger
to
smash the status-quo.
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