Acre Mill
Posted by Brenda Townsend nee Crowther ,
Saturday, November 29, 2003
As an expat I am following the Acre Mill debate with interest, and am glad a few pigeons are coming home to roost.Aside to the sadness of the plight of those affected by asbestosis, I think, is the situation that my mother told me about during the 1940's when I was a child. Apparently, in the then poor community, recovering from the War, sewing shop wages were very low, and Acre Mill offered over twice the local wage there, with jobs for both men and women.Many people wanting a decent wage for a change were tempted, but people WERE AWARE that there was danger. My father was in the St John's Ambulance, and people unwilling to go to a Doctor often came to our door. He said he saw lots of cuts on hands etc from Acre Mill that had greeny growths in them, and it could not be cleaned out or removed.When he suggested that people should get another job, they always said the wages and perks were too good.I believe that when they were closed down, Cape Asbestos opened up in West Africa. Is that my imagination, or is that another poor area where people's choices are limited
Posted by Frances,
Friday, December 5, 2003
You are right about Cape having factories in Africa. If you read the Hebweb article "Legacy of Acre Mill" you will find a link to an article called Three Minerals Three Epidemics by Anthony Coombs at the end. This goes a long way to telling the story of what happened in South Africa.