Luciano Cinci (58). Pomarance - Pisa - Italy. April 24, 2015.
He suffers from pleural plaques due to occupational exposure and has had a detachment of the aorta which has considerably worsened his breathing capacity.
The two illnesses recognized by Inail (National Work Injury Insurance Institution) in correlation with asbestos are: mesothelioma (neoplasia of the lung pleura) and the pleural plaques (the fiber of asbestos reaches the pleura and creates a fibrosis reaction and cancer). Luciano stopped his job, because he was unable to work and is living with a minimum disability pension.
Luciano Cinci (59). Pomarance – Pisa – Italy. January 5, 2016.
He suffers from pleural plaques due occupation exposure and he’s showing his x ray.
ENEL (National Electric Energy Corporation) geothermal land. Monterotondo - Grosseto - Italy. January 5, 2016.
ENEL covered the geothermal tubes with asbestos; many areas, where the factories were located, need to be cleared and they are dangerous for the health of citizens.
Giuseppe Manfredi’s funeral (67). Casale Monferrato - Alessandria - Italy. August 18, 2016.
Giuseppe Manfredi started to suffer from mesothelioma (neoplasia of the lung pleura) in 2014; he most probably breathed in asbestos fiber when he was a child, because it was customary to use asbestos dust as sand in the schools of di Casale Monferrato.
Carmen Vecchi (17). Naples - Italy. August 2, 2016.
Carmen is taking some photos with a boy in this place called “Colmata a mare” (The filled at sea); this area was formed from residues of dismantled factories, among which Eternit, that produced asbestos. In 2013 the grounds of the former Italsider and former Eternit of Bagnoli were seized during an investigation conducted by a public prosecutor of Naples, because they are considered extremely dangerous. Access to these places is prohibited, but there aren’t adequate fences and many teenagers enter there.
Constitutional Court. Rome - Italy. May 31, 2016.
The asbestos victims of Casale Monferrato obtained to proceed a new trial for murder from the Constitutional Court against the Swiss, Stephan Schmidheiny, owner of Eternit s.p.a. (the main asbestos production factory in Italy).
On November 19, 2014 the Supreme Court of Cassation declared prescribed the crime of environmental disaster from Eternit s.p.a., nullifying the legal recognition of the victims.
Stephan Schmidheiny’s defense lawyers argued that their client can’t still be prosecuted in accordance with the legislation “ne bis in idem". The Constitutional Court refutes it and legitimates the asbestos victims to sue Stephan Schmidheiny for manslaughter.
Elena Ferrarese (51) and Francesco Minerva (44). Milan – Italy. March 1, 2016.
Elena lived in Milan’s public houses called “White Houses”, from the color of asbestos from which they were built. Almost all the inhabitants of these houses have fallen ill from diseases which are not directly related to asbestos, according to Inail (National Work Injury Insurance Istitution), which recognizes only mesothelioma and the asbestosis plaques as related diseases. Some studies, however, do not rule out a report of this fiber also with other diseases (cit. Doct. Franco Mandelli, president of AIL or Italian Association Against Leukaemia). Elena has had a very serious pulmonary emphysema and she suffers from depression; the former residents of these houses also live in a very stressful psychological condition, because they have to periodically undergo check-ups (the fiber of asbestos has an incubation for 25-30 years). Francesco is Elena’s husband and looks after her in her periods of depression. There is a pending lawsuit against the City of Milan.
Larderello – Pisa – Italy. January 2, 2016.
Forests and vegetation around the Enel (National Electric Energy Corporation) power plant are contaminated by asbestos and create a serious risk for the citizens.
Pierangelo Fazio (69). Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. April 13, 2016.
Since the Eternit factories closed, Pierangelo has become ill with pleura plaques. He was called “The Rat”, because he was under the sewers, where he broke down the bigger asbestos formations so that they did not block the pipes. He said: “I was buried alive to shut me up. I was in the trade union and spoke out for the protection of worker’s rights”.
Place of asbestos drainage. Larderello – Pisa – Italy. January 20, 2016.
The drainage has been done in not well protected places and without appropriate security measures. The reclamations are entrusted to companies in contract and often run by immigrants. The reclamation of this area is being done by a cooperative of Moroccan immigrants.
Eternot playground. Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. September 10, 2016.
Inauguration of the playground called "Eternot" where there was the factory “Eternit” producing asbestos and which has been buried in this same place.
The production plant of the company Eternit Casale Monferrato extended over an area of about 94,000 square meters of which about 50,000 were covered with fiber cement sheets.
Claudia Cuozzo (39) with her daughter Clara Stefanuto (5). Rome – Italy. August 24, 2016.
Claudia has lived with her husband and her daughter in the Enpam (National Welfare and Medical Assistance) houses, on the top floor of a building with an asbestos roof. Her mother in law and her brother in law, who lived there before them, are dead for mesothelioma (2014 and 2016). Clara has lived there since her birth and she became ill with leukemia in 2012; Claudia has fully assisted her for two years between hospital and home.
Clara is well today and will begin to attend school, but Claudia is emotionally stressed. She told me: "at night, before going to sleep, I think about what I have done, if I have given the right medicines to Clara or if I have done something wrong. I live as if I haven’t been able to protect my child from illnesses and, instead, I want to protect her from a possible relapse.".
Castelnuovo Val di Cecina - Pisa - Italy. July 5, 2012.
Letters from Marcella who wrote her husband when they was engaged. She died from a lung cancer not diagnosed as mesothelioma; his father and two brothers had a diagnosis of asbestosis from exposure to asbestos. Many women became ill by indirectly breathing in the asbestos fiber, especially from the clothes of men who were directly exposed to it, but were not subjected to the necessary diagnostic tests.
Giuseppe Manfredi (66). Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. September 11, 2015.
He suffered from mesothelioma and passed away in August 16, 2016. He is taking walk in the woods to stay in his loneliness and find relief from grief.
He was president of AFEVA (Association of Relatives and Victims to Asbestos) of Casale Monferrato. He told me that he was touched when he thought of himself as a child and about the people who loved him
Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. October 27, 2015.
The offices of the former Eternit factory, that produced asbestos ,are in a state of advanced decay. Exposure to asbestos occurs through inhalation of fibres primarily from contaminated air in the working environment, as well as from ambient air in the vicinity of point sources or indoor air in housing and buildings containing friable asbestos materials.
Luciano Cinci (58). Castelnuovo Val Di Cecina - Pisa - Italy. April 15, 2015.
Luciano worked for a cooperative public company of Enel and he only had the recognition of early retirement of five years for his condition. The workers who worked for Enel with public contracts have not been given professional compensation.
Federica Barbieri (38). Massa Carrara - Italy. Febraury 3, 2016.
Federica has been fighting a legal battle for 14 years for the recognition of her father's death from occupational exposure to asbestos. Initially, 80 percent of his professional death case was recognized to his father, then reduced to 30 percent in cassation. Federica also supports the struggles of other victims of exposure to asbestos and has become an important point of reference for them. Her father worked for NCA Cantieri Apuania from 1966 to 1992, this society used asbestos was used to coat ships.
Casale Monferrato - Alessandria – Italy. April 28, 2016.
On April 28th, is the World Day for Health and Safety in workplaces. It is the remembrance of asbestos victims in Casale Monferrato; white roses have been placed along the fencing where Eternit Factory was (the biggest asbestos production factory in Italy) and which has been buried in this same place. This land has become a plyground for children.
Luisa Pastore (49). Bagnoli - Naples - Italy. August 02, 2016.
Luisa is in her bedroom and she is living a difficult moment, because she has had a mastectomy for breast cancer, while previously she has had a thyroid cancer. She has lost both her parents, who worked at Eternit of Bagnoli (factory producing asbestos in Naples), because of mesothelioma.
Luisa’s diseases are not officially related with asbestos from Inail (National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work), but some studies as Prof. Giancarlo Ugazio’s the researches prove that other diseases attributable to asbestos exposure among which thyroid cancer and breast cancer (ref. ONA onlus or Observatory National Asbestos).
Pietro Condello's house. Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. April 14, 2016.
This dress is of Pietro’s wife, who died for a bowel cancer; it was hanging on the wall in a completely untidy room. Pietro, who suffers from pleural plaques, has decided to no longer live in Casale Monferrato and he is moving to Novara. These are some of the objects that are still in his house. His words were: "You live with death in this city. I’m sure that my wife had cancer for asbestos exposure.".
The church of Ronzone. Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. Juny 14, 2016.
In the 60s many children breathed the asbestos fiber in this oratory and many of them today suffer from mesothelioma, because instead of cement there was asbestos dust. Even today, however, this church is located near the former Eternit factory that has not been fully reclaimed yet.
Giuseppe Manfredi (66) with his daughter Daniela Manfredi (born in 1975). Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Lombardia – Italy. April 14, 2016.
Giuseppe undergoes a Reiki treatment with help his daughter. Giuseppe, who suffered from mesothelioma for asbestos exposure, died four months later. He was not able to enter in the protocol of the experimental diseases. Mesothelioma is a difficult disease to beat. And while there are many aspects to it that you can’t control, there are things that you can do to help improve the quality of life.
Romana Blasotti Pavesi (86). Casale Monferrato - Alessandria – Italy. September 10, 2015.
Romana has outlived her husband who worked at Eternit, her daughter, her sister and her niece, who all dead from mesothelioma. Romana has been the symbol of fight against Eternit factory (the biggest asbestos production factory in Italy) for the asbestos victims and was president of A.F.E.V.A. or the Association of Relatives and Victims to Asbestos, from 1988 to 2015. She has had a psychological and physical collapse, after the declared crime of environmental disaster by Eternit s.p.a., which was prescribed by the Supreme Court of Cassation (On November 19, 2014).
Casale Monferrato – Alessandria – Italy. June 28, 2016.
A child is playing in a street next to parckground where was the former Eternit factory. The Eternit factory, the largest asbestos factory production, has been buried and a playground has been built above it. Casale Monferrato Administration built this area to give a message of rebirth, but many citizens believe that the ground is dangerous.The park opened in September 2016.
