A huge lawsuit against the polluting factories in the Haifa area - reports from the court ► Watch

A huge lawsuit against 30 polluting factories in the Haifa area has been launched

At this time (Tuesday 14/2/23, 9:30) the first hearing in the giant lawsuit against 30 polluting factories in the Haifa area began, in the Haifa District Court. This is a class action lawsuit filed by the "Citizens for the Environment" association, in which it represents lung cancer and NHL patients.

As part of the lawsuit, filed through a battery of lawyers specializing in the field, led by attorney Assaf Fink, the court is asked for the first time to recognize the causal link between air pollution and excess morbidity and mortality from cancer in the Haifa area.

Key testimony in today's discussion - from Prof. Eldad Dan, expert in NHL, director of the Rambam blood bank.

Already at the beginning of his testimony (9:45) Prof. Eldad Dan admits that he indeed signed all the opinions from which it appears that there is an excess incidence of Hodgkin type cancer in Haifa, and the causal link is the air pollution in the area, and that he wrote a continuous opinion during the last year.

Prof. Dan points out that he was interested in the whole issue of morbidity and pollution even before the appeal was held by the association "Citizens for the Environment" and attorney Assaf Fink. According to him, already in 1997, when he arrived in Haifa, he began to research the issue. The opinions were written based on research, data , materials and reports also published in the Knesset, said Prof. Dan.

Regular updates - time 10:20
As part of the testimony, the lawyer of one of the defendants is trying to find out what he relied on in the first opinion he signed and concluded that there is a connection between cancer and air pollution. The lawyer repeatedly asks whether, in writing the opinion in Israel and around the world, he also relied on articles that did not show that there is no connection between cancer and air pollution.

The professor points out that even if there are articles in which it is written that there is no connection between infection and cancer, this does not invalidate this connection. "This is not my specialty, the segmentation of which factory polluted more, but my specialty is the morbidity in Haifa, Hodgkin's disease," said Prof. Dan.

Regarding the supplementary opinion, the attorney asked Prof. Dan if he had read many opinions or one, his answer was that he had read Dr. Tuchman's opinion only, and stated that he had not read the opinions of the respondents. He drafted the opinions he signed on his own and handed them over to the lawyers. "It is possible that they formulated differently and asked questions, following which I added details and submitted the final opinion."

The first of 55 scheduled discussions

This is the first hearing among 55 hearings that the judge determined, it is one of the precedent and largest cases in general

◄Adv. Assaf Fink, ahead of the first hearing • Watch

◄Adv. Jamila Hardel Vakim, director of the Citizens for the Environment Association • Watch

the representing lawyers The lawsuit is led by Adv. Assaf Fink, Adv. Gil Ron, Adv. Hamed Soaed, Adv. Sapir Chai Zarihan and Dr. Eran Tzin from the clinic of the Faculty of Law at Tel Aviv University.