Éric Jonckheere, the defender of rights of asbestos victims is no more but his legacy remains

Message from Dr. Gopal Krishna, Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI)

Eric Jonckheere was an activist, pilot, and author.  He was the author of the book Asbestos:My War with the Devil's Dust. He had donated his books to Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) "in order to promote awareness and good health in regard to asbestos exposures." I learnt about him and his work from Dr. Barry Castleman, the author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects. I was introduced to Eric and his work exposing claims of "controlled use" of asbestos by him. 

 

The book is his memoir. The book is a call to action for global action to ban asbestos. The book is about Jonckheere's family's experience with asbestos and the loss of his parents and two brothers to environmental exposure. The book also gives a voice to families who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. The book includes a foreword by Jonckheere's mother, Francoise Jonckheere, who was a founding member of the Association of Asbestos Victims in Belgium (ABEVA). Eric’s mother would refuse a 40,000 € settlement offer from the beneficial owners of Eternit. The book was released on April 28, 2022. In 2018, he had received the ADAO Alan Reinstein Memorial Award for his advocacy work to ban asbestos. 

 

Both Eric and I had struggled to get the books cleared from the Customs. We had exchanged notes with DHL Brussels and DHL India. I had to assure the Superintendent of Customs, New Courier Terminal, IGI Airport, New Delhi that "the consignment in question is some complimentary books on environmental health." He had written to them saying, "I, Eric Jonckheere, author of the book "My war with the devil's dust ", and president of ABEVA is donating his work/books to Gopal Krishna in order to promote awarness and good health in regard to asbestos exposures."

Eric's book narrates the story of betrayal by the beneficial owners of Eternit factory. How they allowed the ‘devil’s dust’ to enter homes and human bodies. Eric’s father, Pierre Jonckheere used to work at the factory but “overalls continued to be taken back to the thatched cottages and washed by housewives unaware of the dangers to which they and their children were exposed.” Children played in the contaminated area...and the dust billowed in the wind.” Eric’s mother and two brothers also contracted asbestos-caused diseases and sadly passed away.

The book is a story of families and friends and who are fighting for justice for all. His work inspires all anti-asbestos campaigners across the globe who are struggling for the safe removal and eradication of asbestos and asbestos related diseases it causes. His book reveals the deceit, lies, hypocrisy and bribes used by the asbestos companies. The story begins with a powerful foreword by Eric’s mother, Francoise Jonckheere. Whilst suffering from mesothelioma, Francoise faced the Eternit’s CEO but she refused to be bought and silenced, resulting in her ‘laying the groundwork for justice’. Francoise was also one of the founding members of the Association of Asbestos Victims in Belgium. The book has a preface from Laurie Kazan-Allen of International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS). It gives a voice to families who are living with diagnosis of mesothelioma.

I remember discussing the Letter to the Editor with him in a group which was submitted to the European Respiratory Journal (ERJ) asking it to retract the inaccurate and misleading article entitled "The asbestos fibre burden in human lungs: new insights into the chrysotile debate" authored by Inke Sabine Feder, Iris Tischoff Anja Theile, Inge Schmitz, Rolf Merget and Andrea Tannapfel. In their June 2017 article, they claimed that it was critical for workers to show evidence of chrysotile asbestos fibres in the lungs in order to obtain compensation. The ERJ's Editorial entitled "Quantifying asbestos in lung tissue: what debate?" by Benoit Nemery Valerie Nuyts Kristiaan Nackaerts concluded that "it should be realised that the phrase “chrysotile debate” is not neutral. Indeed, the asbestos industry has applied the tactics used by other “merchants of doubt"...." But the ERJ refused to publish the letter. In December 2017, ERJ published "Correspondence regarding the article 'The asbestos fibre burden in human lungs: new insights into the chrysotile debate'" by Pietro Sartorelli and by L. Christine Oliver Fiorella Belpoggi Lygia T. Budnik David Egilman Arthur L. Frank Daniele Mandrioli Colin L. Soskolne Benedetto Terracini Laura Welch Xaver Baur. The latter pointed out "serious shortcomings" in the article like contrary to the authors' claim, there is no ongoing debate about the biopersistence of chrysotile asbestos among independent, credible scientists. In support of their claim that such a debate exists, the authors rely on an article commissioned, funded and developed in collaboration with asbestos lobbyists. In December 2017, ERJ also published "Correspondence regarding the article 'The asbestos fibre burden in human lungs: new insights into the chrysotile debate'" a response by Inke Sabine Feder, Iris Tischoff Anja Theile, Inge Schmitz, Rolf Merget and Andrea Tannapfel which cited "Comparison of Calidria chrysotile asbestos to pure tremolite: final results of the inhalation biopersistence and histopathology examination following shortterm exposure" an article by Bernstein DM, Cevalier J, Smith P. published in Inhalation Toxicology in 2008.

 

Subsequent to ERJ's refusal to publish their letter, Kathleen Ruffi, Eliezer João de Souza, Fernanda Giannasi, Evelyn Glenskiv, Marc Hindryv, Linda Reinsteinvi, Adrian Prietovii, Gopal Krishna, Laurie Kazan-Allen, Eric Jonckheere, Robert Vojakovic, and Pierrette Iselin had co-authored an 8-page long commentary entitled "Asbestos and insurance interests continue to use discredited scientific argument to sell asbestos and to deny justice to asbestos victims" which was published in the Journal of Scientific Practice and Integrity in its April 11, 2019 issue.

 

Eric’s story is captured in a video depicting the lives of many victims from Eternit’s asbestos operations near the Belgian cities of Kapelle and Harmignies. 

I will always remember Eric as a fellow comrade who lived and struggled for a just and fair world without asbestos. His memory will inspire the global fight against asbestos killers and their collaborators in public institutions. I will his treasure his book and his memory. 

Message from Alec Farquhar, Coordinator, Asbestos Free Canada and Convenor, Workplace Health Without Borders (WHWB) Asbestos Working Group

Éric Jonckheere and his family endured an unimaginable degree of suffering caused by asbestos.  Their story began in a small company town in Belgium, where Éric’s father was the manager of an Eternit asbestos cement factory. A significant proportion of the asbestos used there came from Canada.  Eventually, Éric’s father, mother and two of his brothers died from mesothelioma.  Tragically, Éric himself joined them on December 13, 2024 after a tenacious struggle against the relentless cancer that began four years ago.

Éric decided years ago that he would not rest until he helped win justice for asbestos victims and achieved a global ban on asbestos.  He made a magnificent contribution to that struggle.  He was a charismatic, bigger than life figure who won people over with charm and humour (often dark) as much as by statistics and policy arguments. 

Éric contributed greatly to our asbestos struggle in Canada, as he did in many parts of the world.  I was privileged to host him in 2012, when he stood in solidarity with the hundreds of wonderful activists of Sarnia, Ontario;  this was a major moment of progress on our journey to ban asbestos in Canada in 2018.

Éric visited Canada again with his friend Daniel Lambo, in 2019, when the Canadian Mesothelioma Foundation sponsored the Canadian launch of Daniel’s film “Breathless”, which portrayed the global reach of the asbestos industry, grounded in the story of the Jonckheere family.

Then, after Éric’s mesothelioma diagnosis, he told me that we would like to visit Canada while he was still able.  So in November 2023, he came to Toronto and made a powerful intervention at the Canadian Mesothelioma Foundation’s conference.  Following that, I was privileged to accompany him on a visit to the closed down asbestos mines in Quebec – in the town formerly called Asbestos and now called Val des Sources.  He was in great discomfort at times but courageously and in good humour confronted once again the place where the asbestos in his lungs came from. 

Eric was a powerful influence in our movement and I miss him deeply.

Message from ABEVA

Belgian Association of Asbestos Victims, (ABEVA) mourned the death of its president. Its press release dated December 15, 2024 reads: "Eric Jonckheere, president of the Belgian Association of Asbestos Victims, (ABEVA) died Friday evening, Dec. 13, of mesothelioma, the most serious of the asbestos-related diseases. He was 66 years old. His illness was caused by asbestos to which he had been exposed as a young man near the Eternit factories in Kapelle-op-den-Bos. Four other members of his family have already died from the same causes. ABEVA has fallen into a state of intense sadness.  ABEVA assures all of Eric's loved ones, his partner and children of its solidarity. For four years, Eric endured this disease with admirable courage and tenacity, carrying out his duties and our struggle on behalf of asbestos victims with particularly positive energy. Eric reiterated to us recently that he is not moved by a feeling of revenge, but above all by the urgent need for justice, recognition of guilt and just compensation for the victims from those responsible for their illnesses. This is the meaning of the legal actions he has taken, so far successfully. This is also the meaning of his struggle-our struggle-to prevent similar tragedies from happening in the future by removing asbestos from all places that can still generate hazards, primarily schools and other public places. ABEVA will naturally continue these battles in which it has been engaged for nearly 25 years and to which Éric has contributed extensively and tirelessly."

Message from Occupational Health and Safety Managers, Nigeria

In a message dated December 18, 2024, Ehi Iden, Chief Executive Officer, Occupational Health and Safety Managers, Ikeja Lagos, Nigeria wrote: "It is really sad to read of Eric's death.  I have read of his story and great activism efforts towards asbestos ban but sadly, this is where his journey ends. In solidarity with Eric, we must keep up the advocacy; no one is safe in a world where asbestos thrives until everyone of us is safe. My condolences to his family and everyone who knew him closely."

 

Legacy of Collegium Ramazzini Fellow, Dr. Morris Greenberg Survives: Barry Castleman

Dr. Morris Greenberg -- Remembrance

Dr. Morris Greenberg died peacefully on August 19, 2021. As UK Medical Inspector of Factories, he published a report of cases in the UK Mesothelioma Registry in 1974.  In addition to cases with occupational asbestos exposure as short as 3 weeks, one case included was a man whose only identified exposure was spending just one day sawing up asbestos sheets to make a chicken coop.  

In his work at the UK Factory Inspectorate, in publications continuing throughout his retirement, and in his willingness to be an activist and work with others for a world free of asbestos use, Morris Greenberg was an exemplar.  He wrote many papers analyzing historical events and showing where the authorities and industry had failed to protect the workers. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Greenberg%20M&cauthor_id=28913871&page=2 

In one paper, he recalled that London dock workers concerned about handling jute sacks of asbestos sought out the advice of renowned occupational health physician Donald Hunter in 1965.  Though Hunter supported their concerns, they were later lulled by reassurances from the port doctor and then trade union doctor Robert Murray (who would later go on to bankrupt asbestos activist Alan Dalton with a libel suit and testify in defense of T&N against asbestos victims).  Greenberg went on to show that the reassurances were not evidence-based and that existing data at the time and in decades since have shown that dockers were at increased risk of cancer.  

In 1997, the WHO Regional Office for Europe circulated draft reports “Asbestos and Health” and “Asbestos in Buildings.”  Dr. Richard Lemen, retired chief of the US National Institute of Occupational Health, raised concern that the reports were misleading and read like endorsements for using asbestos.  As controversy grew, WHO turned to Morris Greenberg to advise on the matter.  Though the “Asbestos and Health” report was modified by its author, Greenberg slammed the revision as containing elements unfitting in a WHO report.  Further criticism by union leaders and scientists including former IARC Director Lorenzo Tomatis led WHO headquarters to halt the report’s distribution in 1999.  A second edition of the report, much improved by the adoption of language from previous international reports, was published in 2000.  The “Asbestos in Buildings” report, whose atrocious draft advised local authorities to “de-dramatize the problem,” was never issued by WHO.

In 2008, the Collegium Ramazzini had just met in Carpi, Italy, and the periodic review of the Rotterdam Convention was scheduled to take place immediately afterward at the FAO in Rome.  Activists were coming to contest the opposition (by countries including Canada) to including chrysotile asbestos in the PIC list of substances covered by the convention's “prior informed consent” duty.  Scientists were needed to join the activists in trying to make a difference, where over 100 countries were represented.  Morris Greenberg (who was about 80 then) and Colin Soskolne agreed to come down with me on the train and spend several days in Rome, in case anybody wanted to argue about the epidemiology of chrysotile asbestos.  At one point, we joined a protest, holding large photographs of asbestos factory pollution in Asia.  [Pictures attached]

Morris Greenberg was a kind and decent man as well as a distinguished public health worker.

A Fellow of the Collegium Ramazzini practically since its founding in 1982 by Dr. Irving Selikoff and Cesare Maltoni, Dr. Greenberg was remembered with great affection by his colleagues and activists.  “A dear colleague and consummate gentleman” (Dr. Arthur Frank).  “Wise, deeply committed, and very dedicated.” (Dr. Phil Landrigan, former President of the Collegium)  “What a gentleman and scholar.  His cryptic sense of humor and his advocacy for worker health and safety were from his heart.  His contributions were many.”  (Dr. Richard Lemen)   “I remember his brilliant and biting wit, his scholarship and his human kindness. There won’t be another like him.  Grace, scholarship and humanity don’t come along very often.”  (Dr. Daniel Teitelbaum)  "A real mensch." (Dr. David Egilman)

Asbestos activists reacted with deep sadness to the passing of Morris Greenberg.  “He was such a wonderful man.” (Laurie Kazan-Allen, IBAS)  “His great contributions to public health and to end the man-made asbestos disaster will be remembered forever.”  (Linda Reinstein, ADAO)  “His work was dedicated to occupational justice across the globe which is an inspiration for countries like India where environmental-occupational health doctors are rare to find and required infrastructure is almost non-existent.”  (Gopal Krishna, BANI)

Morris Greenberg was also a great help to US lawyers representing asbestos victims, in their efforts to excavate the public health and corporate history of asbestos.  Gary Dimuzio wrote: “Morris, gentle giant of public and occupational health was unquestionably one of the major figures in occupational health including asbestos since the 1960s, he always fought for the ‘little guy’ even at the potential expense of his own career.  We all use his articles.  Despite advancing age and a fairly serious stroke several years ago, Morris was always willing to provide insights or help find an article or document that only he could find, as recently as just a few weeks ago.  He will be missed.”

Longtime US plaintiffs’ lawyer Conard Metcalf reacted, “ A great loss.  An incredible and enduring and powerful voice for workers and their families and of course for the science.”

By

Barry Castleman
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MORRIS GREENBERG was Ramazzini Award recipient and Ramazzini Lecturer for 2011.  The Collegium Ramazzini issued this statement:

Morris Greenberg played a prominent role in occupational medicine in the United Kingdom over the past half century.  As Former HM Inspector of Factories and Former Senior Medical Officer, Division of Toxicology and Environmental Health in the UK Department of Health, he fought the power of industry throughout his career, dedicating himself to the health, safety, and well-being of workers.

Occupational medicine had become an academic discipline in the United Kingdom after the Second World War under the aegis of a few Universities and of the Medical Research Council. By 1970, the 110,000 factories covered by the 1879 Act had increased to 379,000 factories and the number of inspectors to 560, including 19 medical specialists, yet there had been little change to the organization.  Morris Greenberg participated in the realization of the Employment Medical Advisory Service Act of 1972, by which the Factory Inspectorate’s Medical Inspectors and some 1200 Appointed Factory Doctors were replaced by a national cadre of specialist physicians and nurses.  The whole health and safety apparatus was radically transformed, and Morris Greenberg was a key contributor in the process.

The newly reinforced Employment Medical Advisory Service collaborated with a number of academic units. Morris Greenberg was nominated as a founding member of the Council of the Royal Society of Medicine Occupational Health Section. When a Faculty of Occupational Medicine was inaugurated in the Royal College of Physicians London, to supplement the existing Society of Occupational Medicine, Morris Greenberg was elected to Fellowship. To the existing Diplomas in Industrial Health, academic units added the Master of Science degree, and the College of Physicians provided several levels of diploma, as well as maintaining a register of accredited doctors.

After retirement, Morris Greenberg was at liberty to speak out against the changes of government whose budgetary restraints reversed much of the progress he had helped to construct. Occupational medicine, whether academic, corporate, or private, is now in an uncertain state. He asked a rhetorical question in a paper published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine in 2002, The Rise and Fall of Occupational Medicine in the United Kingdom. “The first three quarters of the 20th century, before the golden age of Robens, threw up a number of UK worthies you would recognize as of international stature in the field of Occupational Medicine, including Oliver, Legge, Collis, Henry, Middleton, Merewether, Hunter, Schilling, and Gilson.  After 25 years of Robens, how many academics can you call to mind who can match them?  For that matter, how many academics have you come across prepared to alert politicians to Occupational Health problems, and to prick the consciences of the public?”

Indeed, it is Morris’ unique ability to “prick the conscience” of others that has made him such an invaluable member of the Collegium Ramazzini since 1983.  His devotion to the Collegium Ramazzini and the ideals for which it stands has provided a model for the next generation of physicians, practitioners and crusaders dedicated to the protection of workers and their health.

PHILIP J. LANDRIGAN, M.D. President
MORANDO SOFFRITTI, M.D. Secretary General
Carpi, October 29, 2011

 

Doctor for Asbestos free world, Morris Greenberg is no more

One of the very earliest members of the Collegium Ramazzini, an independent academy in memory of the father of occupational medicine, Bernardino Ramazzini, Dr Morris Greenberg is no more. He died peacefully on August 19, 2021. He was a recipient of Ramazzini Award. Avi Greenberg informed that his grandfather is survived by his wife Gillian, his three children Susannah, Naomi and Daniel, his 11 grandchildren, and his 3 great grandchildren. Avi is a PhD Student in Prof. Itamar Simon's lab, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Hebrew University Medical School, Jerusalem. 

In 1974, as Medical Inspector of Factories, UK, Dr. Morris Greenberg wrote a paper on the register of mesothelioma due to occupational asbestos exposure. He observed, "Overall in the study there were 38 cases (15.0% of all mesothelial tumours) lacking evidence of asbestos exposure. In this study the briefest occupational exposure to asbestos associated with a mesothelial tumour was three weeks, but if asbestos was a cause of mesothelioma it cannot be assumed that lesser exposures are safe." Most likely it is one of the earliest studies to underline that long duration of asbestos exposure is not a pre-condition for emergence of incurable asbestos related diseases.  Dr. Morris also served as senior Senior Medical Officer, Division of Toxicology and Environmental Health in the UK Department of Health. His work contributed to the enactment of UK's Employment Medical Advisory Service Act,1972. He was a founding member of the Council of the Royal Society of Medicine Occupational Health Section.

A Fellow of Collegium Ramazzini, Barry Castleman, author of Asbestos: Medical and Legal Aspects recalled, "In 2008, the Collegium Ramazzini had just met, and the periodic review of the Rotterdam Convention was scheduled to take place immediately afterward at the FAO in Rome. Activists were coming to Rome to contest the opposition to including chrysotile asbestos in the PIC list of substances covered by the convention's prior informed consent duty.  We needed some scientists to join the activists in trying to make a difference there.  Morris and Colin agreed to come down with me on the train and spend several days there, in case anybody wanted to argue about the lethality of chrysotile asbestos." Dr Morris would have been quite happy to see inclusion of chrysotile asbestos in the UN list of hazardous substances under Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedure for certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade in his lifetime.  

(Photo: Dr. Morris Greenberg in hat with Dr. Barry Castleman)

In an article in American Journal of Industrial Medicine, he recalled how an inquiry from the UK in 1912 as to the health of Quebec asbestos miners was met by a denial of ill-health, but the loading of the premiums of asbestos workers in the 1930s indicated that, despite further reassuring health studies on Quebec miners, actuaries had data that was cause for serious concern. 

In Social History of Medicine, he wrote a chapter on "Knowledge of the Health Hazard of Asbestos Prior to the Merewether and Price Report of 1930" about the initial realization of the burden of ill health associated with occupational exposure to asbestos dust, and the need for environmental control, which according to him pre-dated the publication of the results of the survey by Merewether and Price in 1930. He held the view that there was sufficient evidence available prior to 1930 that should have led to preventive action. He observed, "The responsibility for this delay must be shared between manufacturers, workers' representatives, the Factory Inspectorate and Scientists involved in the relevant research." 

Notably, the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories in Great Britain for the year 1947 (published in 1949) was authored by the Chief Inspector,  UK, E. R. A. Merewether, a general practitioner who worked with an industrial engineer, C.V. Price, to publish the first epidemiological study of the asbestos industry in 1930. They examined 363 workers involved in opening, carding, stripping, grinding, spinning and weaving in asbestos textiles mills in the UK. They found that one in four of the workers had signs of a serious respiratory disease, paving the way for legislation. The findings were published in the US industrial medical journal- Journal of Industrial Hygiene in 1930.

In such a backdrop, writings of Dr. Morris underline the need for convergence between history of public health and medical science for preventive action against environmental and occupational diseases.

Towards the end of his life, he was dismayed by the uncertain state of occupational medicine. He wrote on The Rise and Fall of Occupational Medicine in the United Kingdom in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. In the naked lust for profit by conscienceless body corporates, the plight of occupational health of workers is not accorded any priority by ruling parties who survive on the donations from these very undemocratic entities.

     

Ban Asbestos Network of India (BANI) salutes him and his work for the protection of public health. In November 2015, BANI co-signed a letter authored by Katherine Ruff, a noted Canadian human rights activist, with him to the Canadian Prime Minister seeking ban on asbestos. Subsequently, Canada banned asbestos. Canada has been one of the main suppliers of asbestos to India, which has banned its own asbestos mining due to harmful effects of asbestos mineral fibers. Dr Morris was familiar with the public health crisis in India in this regard. When he wrote in the matter of industry efforts to prevent asbestos ban in Pakistan, he recalled that Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers of India like their Pakistani counterpart is part of the International Chrysotile Association, which represents the interest of the Chrysotile industry world over. His work was dedicated to occupational justice across the globe which is an inspiration for countries like India where environmental-occupational health doctors are rare to find and required infrastructure is almost non-existent.