Rochdale on Line 28th August 2008 reported that former MP Sir Cyril Smith had lobbied on behalf of the world's largest asbestos factory, Turner and Newall.
Smithe tried to help the Rochdale based company to supress knowledge of the dangers of asbestos.
An article in the New Statesman magazine reveals that Rochdale's former MP wrote to the head of personnel at T&N during a summer political recess in 1981 to tell him that the House would debate EEC regulations on asbestos in the next parliamentary session and asked what the factory would like him to say
The letter reads: "Could you please, within the next eight weeks, let me have the speech you would like to make (were you able to!), in that debate?" The T&N draft response is almost identical to what the Rochdale MP said in his house of commons speech, which stressed the need for less regulation on asbestos and that other products should be approached 'with caution'.
Sir Cyril said: "The public at large are not at risk. It is necessary to say that time and time again." T&N exposed millions to asbestos fibres in full knowledge of the dangers and used Sir Cyril to cover a truth that it had secretly admitted to in 1961, namely that "the only really safe number of asbestos fibres in the works environment is nil".
To read the full account click on the link below
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/print/13421
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