The Diet enacted a law in early February to financially help people suffering from asbestos-related health problems not covered by labor accident compensation. Eligible people can start filing requests for the aid under the law on March 20. Enactment of the law was quick -- in about seven months -- after it was discovered that people living near an asbestos-related factory in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, were suffering from illnesses caused by the carcinogenic material.

So far so good. But the government's basic position on asbestos pollution is far from laudable as it refuses to take responsibility for the nationwide health disaster. Although the carcinogenic quality of asbestos has been known for decades, the government waited until 1995 to ban the production and use of highly poisonous brown and blue asbestos. The use of white asbestos, which is less carcinogenic, wasn't banned until October 2004. And the government calls the financial aid "relief money," not compensation.

The law covers people who have lived near asbestos-related factories; family members of workers who wore asbestos-contaminated clothing home; workers -- mostly self-employed people -- not covered by labor-accident compensation; and bereaved families of asbestos-affected workers who died at least five years ago and for whom the statute of limitations has expired. Affected people typically have developed lung cancer or mesothelioma, a cancerous tumor in the pleura or the peritoneum.