Common Sense: The Zonolite Company In Libby Montana
1996 Words8 Pages
Common sense- (pg. 6) - those things that “everyone knows” are true
Common sense is defined in our textbooks as “those things that ‘everyone knows’ are true. Throughout the film, one based on the asbestos disaster occurring out of Libby Montana for about 60 years or so, many of the now elderly mine workers look back on their lack of knowledge and mere misguidedness in trusting the corporation they long worked for. At one point in the documentary, one of the elderly past workers informed the audience that he had confronted higher ups such as W. R Grace about not informing workers of the potential hazards caused by Zonolite and asbestos exposure. According to the man being interviewed, the response he received was along the lines of a simple…show more content… W. R. Grace was the leading head of the Zonolite Company in Libby Montana, where hundreds of citizens and humans globally were exposed to asbestos and vermiculite from the mines. During the course of the film, many ex- employees of Zonolite mines say that they confronted W. R. Grace asking him if he knew of these hazardous conditions that were being swept through mines and into the open air for people to breathe in. They asked him if he knew of the many deaths caused by asbestosis due to dust exposure, and questioned why he did not come forth to his employees and explain the terribly conditions they were working in, nor did he offer any compensation for their deaths and health issues. Many times these white collar crimes lead into corporate crimes, which are defined as being “executives breaking the law in order to benefit their corporation”. None of the executives, as far as their prosecutors had known, made any attempt to inform their employees of the conditions they were being exposed to. They had essentially sentenced many of these workers and family to death, as death from asbestosis is imminent. These executives had even taken steps to save themselves, while some quit smoking and had surgeries for health problems they were having with their lungs at the time. Greed and money had sentenced many people to death and this is a chain effect that is still occurring even today. Mass cleanups still resulted in finding dust and asbestos exposure- a mineral that is not biodegradable and is in literal terms, everywhere, surrounding Libby from so many years and nearly 5,000 pounds of dust being lifted into the environment on a daily basis. // 306