International

As long as no respectable housing is available for workers from central and eastern Europe, borders must not be subject to further opening. So said SP Member of Parliament and employment spokesman Paul Ulenbelt during today's parliamentary question time. Social Affairs Minister Piet Hein Donner, however, refused to consider making any connection between open borders and the abominable housing conditions which await the majority of such workers.

Born in 1961, Harrie Jansman was exposed to asbestos dust between 1967 and 1971. In this period he lived as a child on his father's farm, and in 1967 his father had paved their farmyard using industrial waste from the neighbouring Eternit asbestos cement factory. The Dutch Eternitfabriek, since 1937 a subsidiary of the Belgian multinational Eternit, from 1945 until around 1975 regularly gave away, free of charge to people living in the neighbourhood, who were often small farmers, large quantities of industrial waste containing asbestos. The recipients used the waste primarily for paving yards and lanes.