Thousands of cancer patients against 30 polluting factories in the Haifa district • First hearing in the court in Haifa, today
Today 3/8/20, the first hearing is held in a class action lawsuit by thousands of lung cancer patients and MHL, a type of lymphoma cancer (a cancerous tumor of the lymphatic system).
The lawsuit is against 30 polluting factories in the Haifa region.
At this moment in the court in Haifa:
The lawsuit: Who knows if the patients will survive the legal process?
The claim:
We are talking about people who are dealing with cancer. Life expectancy depends and we tell them instead of dealing with cancer to go through a legal process that will take 5-15 years, who knows if they will survive it.
The cost of the trial is enormous. We are talking about a procedure that costs hundreds of thousands of shekels to administer. What cancer patient would spend such an amount out of his pocket to conduct such a procedure?
All members of the group have a cause of action against the 30 factories that polluted the Haifa region.
The factories cause people to get cancer, and there is no deterrence.
Defense: The main part of the claim is the personal element
The defense:
In the absence of a causal connection, there is no cause of action. A cause of action for personal injuries requires an examination of personal characteristics.
"Is it even possible to file this claim?"
Judge Ron Sokol:
"There are several general requests here: one central request, I don't know who signed it, which is actually the main question we have: is it even possible to file the lawsuit for pollution damages in this court."

Watch: Attorney Jamila Vachim in an interview with Lahi Pa - Cancer patients against the polluting factories
Watch - Attorney Ask Fink in an interview with Lahi Pa - now in the court in Haifa

Dozens of cancer patients in front of the court in Haifa
Dozens of cancer patients from all over the Haifa region and their families gathered today in front of the court to express their protest against the polluting factories.
According to the lawsuit, the air pollution in the Haifa governorate in the past decades has caused an excess of morbidity in Haifa and its surroundings. According to the data of the National Cancer Registry, in the Haifa governorate, there are about 20 percent more cancer patients than in the whole country.
The lawsuit asks the court to award compensation to all lung cancer and MHL patients in the last 7 years.
The claim: the excess morbidity could have been prevented
Another claim of the lawsuit is that if the factories had been run properly, the excess morbidity in the Haifa district would have been avoided. The prosecution claims that if the factories had invested money in reducing air pollution, and adopted advanced and reasonable technologies, which exist all over the world, the number of cancer patients in the Haifa governorate would have been 20 percent less.
Cancer patients against the factories watched
The defense to the court: cancel the claim
On the other hand, the defense of the polluting factories requests that the court delete the class action even before the hearing, on the grounds that a class action is not appropriate to discuss the damages of cancer patients.
Adv. Assaf Fink, from the prosecution, told Lahi Pa:
The factories prioritized their profit instead of prioritizing the health of the residents. The factories in their request to cancel the class action are trying to create a divide and rule. They actually want every cancer patient, who today faces chemotherapy treatments and focuses on the fight for his life, to start dealing with an individual lawsuit now and hire thousands of shekels for experts and a lawyer. They know, of course, that this will not happen, and that most of the cancer patients who are now focusing on the fight for their lives will not find the time to devote to an individual legal battle either. We very much hope that the court will clarify today that a class action is the most effective and correct way to handle this issue.
What about emphysema and COPD patients.
The public is mostly with the plaintiffs. More than that - there was always the question of when these damn factories would finally be sued for the health damage they cause, for their disregard for the safety of the residents and their health, for their cynicism and opacity. Their time has passed
Good luck to the plaintiffs!!!
Your success is a victory for all of us. Finally, a just and necessary fight will also be waged on the legal level against the polluting factories and the poison (the silent killer) they release into the air of our lives while harming our bodies and wounding our souls.
This is important because no laws, regulations or regulator have succeeded (and the regulator has not always wanted to either...) to reduce or prevent the toxic emissions and/or to enforce the laws.
It is clear to everyone that the court will not accept the claims and reject the lawsuit. But at least there is a media echo here. Good luck.
Hello, I would like to know how it is possible to join the lawsuit against the polluting factories: I have had stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma 4 times
sad.
They also caused and are causing the pollution of the environment, they also try to avoid responsibility.
An era of loss of values, loss of shame, the meat pot moves people on their minds.
The problem with Bezan until 1996 was that it belonged to the state. Gadiv was bought from Miohannoff and merged with Bezan to sell as a package deal. Even in the Gadiv deal, Gasiv Biochemie was bought across the road across from Bezan and sold separately to Tesvu.
Successfully! They should have kicked the sick evil of the petrochemical plants out of here a long time ago!