| Cars as harmful as tobacco? |
| Friday, 17 August 2007, Written by Julien | |
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This summer something quite unique happened in the fight against air pollution. For the first time, automakers accepted to compensate the damages of cars on people health. That story come from Japan, where after an 11-years lawsuit, 7 Japanese automakers accepted to pay 1.2 billion yens (7.4 million euros) to 522 asthma patients. The court previously acknowledged that the asthma of at least a part of the patients had been caused by pollutants emitted by diesel vehicles. <%image(20070817-tokyo2.jpg|350|350|Tokyo traffic (ŠAlexis Drogoul) %> The global settlement includes the creation of a medical care fund for asthma patients and some improvements in traffic and pollution management. The automakers involved are Toyota, Nissan, Nissan Diesel, Mitsubishi, Hino, Isuzu and Mazda. The other defendants were Tokyo Metropolitan Government and the Expressway operator in Tokyo. This news shall be widely spread. After asbestos and tobacco, the next huge health lawsuits could concern carmakers. Read more on Japan Times. Comments
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well... i'm not sure this would sensibilize people not to use their car(s) so often or to use public transports... anyways, we're all victims, aren't we?
photo sympa en tout cas!