May 8th, 2006

A buildings material manufacturer along with its subsidiary company has agreed to come to a compensation settlement with victims that suffered ill health as a result of living near to the firms’ asbestos plants. This proposed settlement has been confirmed by officials, and the companies will be paying up to 30 million yen by way of compensation.

Nichias Corp., along with its subsidiary, Tatsuta Kogyo Co., from Japan will be making the payment to individual victims. Those considered potentially eligible for the compensation will be those who actually developed a disease relating to asbestos exposure from living near to the plants, as well as the families of those who lost loved ones to asbestos related disease.

At present there are five residents that may be eligible for compensation, and the amount awarded is expected to be the same as for workers for the companies that went on to develop asbestos related disease. One company, Kubota Corp., has already offered compensation in a similar plan.

The Nichias Corp. is the second company to do this, and officials stated that the company felt it had a social and moral responsibility to do this.