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https://theconversation.com/dust-and-deceit-how-one-lawyer-took-on-big-asbestos-and-won-258593>
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Review: In a Rain of Dust: Death, Deceit, and the Lawyer Who Busted Big
Asbestos – David Kinley (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Today, business and human rights is a well-accepted field of study promulgated
by academics, industry and civil society groups around the world. But in the
mid-1990s, when a fledgling lawyer in England decided to sue a behemoth
asbestos corporation in South Africa, the idea that corporations might have a
responsibility to respect human rights, no matter where, was more pipedream
than reality.
David Kinley’s book,
In a Rain of Dust, tells a Dickensian tale of men and
women killed by the mining of asbestos and the lawyer who fought for them. It
reads like a well-crafted thriller rather than the diary of a very complicated
lawsuit.
The book has all the elements of a John Grisham novel: corporate coverups,
deceitful lawyers, international intrigue, scientific discoveries, political
subterfuge, downtrodden yet persistent workers, death, many deaths, a union
seeking justice and a lawyer in a land far away who simply won’t give up.
Kinley, a Sydney-based human rights lawyer and academic, skilfully delivers
this tragic tale of how a UK company – Cape Plc – was eventually brought to
account for its pernicious history in the commercialisation of South African
asbestos.
This is a complex legal case where the reader needs to understand some basic
science and law. Kinley manages to present the story in the most engaging and
non-legalistic manner, hooking readers from the opening paragraph."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
