Asbest, eine unendliche Geschichte

Asbestos does not burn, repels moisture, can be mixed with cement and spun into textiles. For decades, the substance insulated the steel skeletons of high-rise buildings and was found in car tires, floors and hair dryers. However, asbestos is also extremely hazardous to health, which is why there has been an extensive ban on manufacture, marketing and use in Germany since November 1993 and in the EU since 2005. Although the risk of asbestos has long been known in industrialized countries, the danger has not yet been averted. The hazardous material is produced and marketed despite the ban. Doctors warn that secondary diseases will continue to increase. In Europe, asbestos removal poses an enormous challenge for society: According to experts, it will take 100 years and cost several billion euros to finally get rid of the carcinogenic fibre. At the same time, Russia continues to extract 600,000 tons of the mineral for export every year in the world's largest asbestos mine. In Bangladesh, workers are sickening for scrapping European cargo ships and supertankers carrying thousands of tons of asbestos, and in Latin America there is growing anger at European companies for continuing to use asbestos long after the material has been banned in Europe. Researching around the world, the documentary reveals that big industry and multinationals still do business with it, challenges conventional wisdom about asbestos and shows that even today, no one is completely safe from it.