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"The Clemenceau is a scandal"

Vaiju Naravane

Two men who worked on board the French warship and now have asbestosis speak out.

— Photo: Vaiju Naravane

TIRELESS CAMPAIGNER: Etienne Le Guilcher outside his office in Brest, France.

"I GAVE seventeen and a half years of my life to the Clemenceau and her sister-ship the Foch and when I developed asbestosis the Navy said to me: `You cannot prove there was asbestos on those ships!'"

"Their patent bad faith stunned me. Well, I did prove it and proved it so well, they dropped their appeal. My case made medico-legal history, set a precedent, created jurisprudence. How could they say there was no proof? I was working in some of the hottest areas of the ship — operating the steam chambers where the temperature of the steam was as high as 300 to 400 degrees Celsius. I also worked on the forward catapults and looked after the heating and the engines. These were the areas that had the most asbestos! So I am not surprised at the attitude of the Navy now. I know the Clemenceau like my pocket and I know it is chock-a-block with asbestos. To suggest, as the French government has done, that only 45 tonnes of the substance is now left on the Clemenceau is simply ludicrous," says Etienne Le Guilcher, the president of the Breton branch of ADDEVA, the Association to Help Asbestos Victims.

A thin, stooped man who looks older than his 62 years, Mr. Le Guilcher has a permanent wheeze that gives way to bouts of coughing.

At the age of 55, he was diagnosed with asbestosis — an incurable, degenerating disease wherein asbestos fibres lodged in the lungs provoke a reaction leading first to fibrosis and finally to lung cancer.

"I was 55 and at the height of my capabilities. The news shattered me of course — I had a severely handicapped wife and young children to bring up. But the legal battles I fought and won, firstly to have my case recognised as caused by hazardous working conditions and then to win compensation from my employers convinced me I had to help others like myself. I started this association in 1999. We were just a handful of members then. Now there are 1,200 members of whom 1,150 are asbestosis sufferers," he told The Hindu in an exclusive interview at the offices of the association in the shipbuilding town of Brest.

"When my illness was first diagnosed, I had an invalidity of 10 per cent. During the past seven years that has risen to 70 per cent. I suffer from terrible fatigue, the constriction and pain in my lungs results in insufficient oxygen for the body and the heart has suffered strain as a result. My heart attack was not counted as part of a work-related illness. We now have increasing evidence that certain types of colon cancers are also linked to the involuntary ingestion of asbestos fibres. Just as these lodge in the lungs, they lodge in the intestinal tract and cause terrible damage."

Despite the fact that the dangers posed by asbestos were well known in the late 1970s, it was only in 1997 that France banned the substance and that too after intense pressure from NGOs. "Already in 1977 there was a note in the DCN (Department of Naval Construction) saying that workers should wear masks. But the protection they provided us was derisory. Everyone knew of the hazards and once again money interests took precedence over the lives of workers. The story of asbestos in France is a scandal. By 2015 there will be 100,000 deaths due to asbestos poisoning. And all this could have been prevented if the government had acted much earlier. Ever since I started this association I have seen some 150 deaths, some of them were close friends," Mr. Le Guilcher said.

Concerning the Clemenceau's departure to India, he said: "We know Indian workers need the work. This dirty job of ship breaking is reserved for the poorest of the poor; which is why France and other developed countries should pool their resources to set up an ideal ship breaking yard with proper housing for workers, proper equipment, and not tolerate the horrors I have seen about Alang in several television documentaries. This should not be left to ship brokers and middlemen who are interested only in profit. How can something that has been so disastrous for public health in France bring any good to Indian workers? The Clemenceau is a scandal. The ship should be brought back and decontaminated here."

Brest is one of France's major ship building centres with a large naval base. The sprawling town with its huge protected natural harbour throbs with shipping activity. Daniel Leduff lives in a council flat on the outskirts of the city. He too has been diagnosed with asbestosis and says it has destroyed his life.

"I live on the 5th floor and when the lift is out of order it takes me a very long time to climb upstairs. Like Etienne, I too worked on the Clemenceau and on other ships." Mr. Leduff also had to take recourse to the courts.

"They offered me the ridiculous sum of 1,600 Euros. So I sued them and was awarded 36,000 Euros. Since then I have tried to help others like myself. Every week I go to the office of the association to advise people about the forms to fill, officers to contact and the documents required. New cases are coming in all the time."

Asked how he reacted to the news that he was ill, Mr. Leduff suddenly broke down. "How can I tell you what it feels like? I was 58 and looking forward to a good, healthy retirement with my wife and children. I am not one of the worst hit and the illness does not for the moment seem to be getting worst, but I still feel robbed, cheated," he sobs.

Asked about the Clemenceau he said: "The cabling on that ship is hundreds of kilometres long. Most of it could have been taken out without damage to the structure. I have heard they have not done that. I don't believe there is fibreglass and not asbestos in the funnels — in the 50s when that ship was built no one even though of fibreglass, it was asbestos all the way. It is criminal to send this ship in its present state. I have been to India and seen the working conditions there. Breaking the Clemenceau in India in its present state of contamination would be tantamount to a crime against humanity."

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