International

International Workers' Memorial Day, which falls on 28 April, will this year be dedicated to asbestos victims. The day (which began in the United States, where "Memorial Day" has long been an annual event to pay tribute to US soldiers, sailors and airmen killed in wars) is intended to draw attention to the terrible toll, warlike in its proportions, taken by industrial accidents and diseases, most of which are avoidable. The dedication to victims of asbestos is a direct consequence of the international asbestos conference organised last year by the SP. On Workers' Memorial Day this year, SP Euro-MP Kartika Liotard will, at a press conference at half past two that afternoon, present a publication bringing together the various contributions to the conference.

The SP is seeking an immediate clarification regarding an illegal experiment alleged to have been carried out in India on a new pharmaceutical. The experiment was the subject of revelations made today on the television programme “Netwerk”. SP Member of Parliament and health spokeswoman Agnes Kant, commenting on the affair, said: "If is confirmed that under the guise of a conventional contract an experiment was carried out illegally on a pharmaceutical product, the so-called 'Axxion-stents' produced by the Dutch firm Occan, this is from an ethical point of view entirely unacceptable, as it would mean that people in developing countries would be irresponsibly exposed to enormous health risks."