'Condemned to an agonising death'

Exposed asbestos in the Spodden Valley

The Daily Mirror has a two page article on the Turner & Newall asbestos factory in Spodden Valley with the headline: "How Turner & Newall condemned its workers to an agonising death. For years the firm knew its asbestos was killing people but it kept on denying it to protect profits."

Save Spodden Valley Campaign Coordinator, Jason Addy, commented: "Today's Mirror investigation, that confirms Turner & Newall's shocking cover-up on asbestos, vindicates both the concerns of SSV supporters and the principled stand of Rochdale Online to ensure the public had direct access to original documents about T&N and asbestos.

"It is only with full access to facts that safe decisions can be made about the future of the Spodden Valley.

"Rochdale Online has always striven to make sure original documents are available and that substantiated facts about the site emerge - despite libel threats from the current owners of the former asbestos factory site."

The Mirror has been running an 'Asbestos Timebomb' campaign to highlight the ongoing danger of asbestos contamination and has made five demands:

1. A £10 million National Centre for Asbestos Related Disease to find better treatment, alleviate suffering and work on cures.

2. Compensation for victims of pleural plaques - scars on lungs caused by asbestos - reinstated after it was scrapped two years ago.

3. Fair and equal compensation for sufferers who can't trace bosses' insurers, through industry-funded Employers Liability Insurance Bureau.

4. A public register of all asbestos surveys carried out on public buildings.

5. The Health and Safety Executive must be given resources to meet its own targets for inspecting asbestos removal work.

The Mirror article concludes: "Today the site of the heavily-contaminated Rochdale site is derelict, although new owners [MMC Estates] plan to build 600 homes there."

• Daily Mirror Asbestos Timebomb Blog…

- Today several million newspaper readers throughout Britain have access to news that Rochdale Online has been publishing for over four years.