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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Court holds state responsible for tunnel workers' lung damage

In a lawsuit in which workers who had been engaged in tunnel construction conducted as public works projects demanded that the state be held responsible for their pneumoconiosis, the Tokyo District Court on July 7 supported the plaintiffs' claim and ordered the government to pay 69.3 million yen in compensation to the 44 plaintiffs.

The court said that the government's failure to exert its regulatory authority to prevent the plaintiffs' illness is "highly unreasonable and illegal."

Plaintiff leader Funayama Tomoe said, "It is the ruling we have been fighting for." He expressed his determination to use this court decision as a lever to change the state policy on this issue, saying, "By strengthening our solidarity, we will continue to fight to eliminate pneumoconiosis."

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Nihi Sohei who has exposed the realities of tunnel construction work and urged the government to solve the problem in the Diet said on the same day, "We strongly demand that the government give up appealing to a higher court, take relief measures for pneumoconiosis victims as well as for all victims suffering from work-related illnesses."

The ruling was the first among similar lawsuits filed at 11 district courts by 960 plaintiffs who had been engaged in tunnel construction for train tracks and highways. 250 of them have already died.
- Akahata, July 8, 2006