Two British authors, John McCulloch and Geoffrey Tweedale, have written a new book, Defending the Indefensible, chronicling the course of the asbestos industry from the late 1800s in Britain and the U.S. to the present day in developing nations. The authors introduced their book, published by Oxford University Press, in the English city of Rochdale. Rochdale is the site of the former Turner and Newall plant, the largest asbestos factory in the world. The writers were invited to Rochdale by the Save Spodden Valley campaign group, which has been fighting since 2004 to block efforts to construct 600 homes and a children’s day care center on the site of the former asbestos maker. The group’s concerns stem from the fact that asbestos exposure can result in the development of diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma, a painful cancer that may take 15 to 40 years to appear.
For the full story, go to the Rochdale Observer.
