Bernie Banton Foundation to Offer Mesothelioma and Asbestos-Related Disease Support and Education

Bernie Banton, known in Australia and around the world for successfully taking on the James Hardie company to increase the asbestos-related disease victim’s compensation fund, was honored in September by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with the launch of The Bernie Banton Foundation. Banton lost his battle with mesothelioma in November 2007.

The foundation, led by Mr. Banton’s widow, was officially launched at Banton’s eponymous center on the grounds of the Concord Hospital NSW. Prime Minister Rudd spoke of Mr. Banton at his acceptance speech in 2007 as having represented the great Australian trade union movement” and for being a “beacon of decency in his fight for compensation.”

Mrs. Banton said of the foundation, “we are the breath beneath the wings of asbestos disease sufferers, their carers and loved ones.” The Bernie Banton Foundation website lists their goals to: develop a support and education service for asbestos disease sufferers and their families throughout Australia; facilitate the education advancement and community awareness of asbestos and its dangers throughout Australia; and promote research into asbestos-related diseases including provision of funding for each of the above purposes.

Banton suffered from asbestosis, mesothelioma and asbestos-related pleural disease (ARPD), which required him to rely on an oxygen tank. Banton was exposed to asbestos when he worked at Hardies for six years from the late 1960′s to the early ’70′s. According to Banton, the group with which he worked was known as the “snowmen” because they were covered from head to toe with the white dust of asbestos in the manufacture of kaylite.

Sources:
The Bernie Banton Foundation
Interview with Bernie and Karen Banton – ABC.net Australia
Bernie Baton Foundation on Facebook