Today, multibillion-dollar company Anglo American holds its AGM in London (Mining giant Anglo fights class action on silicosis, 19 April). Despite its public commitment to corporate social responsibility, including the health of its workers, it has turned its back on thousands of sick gold miners in South Africa, where it built its fortune. Silicosis is a lung disease caused by prolonged and excessive exposure to dust in underground mines. It greatly raises the risk of contracting tuberculosis, which is endemic in rural South Africa. For at least a century, the gold-mining industry has known about silicosis and what has to be done to prevent it. But in a drive for profit, it has overlooked miners' health and exposed them to the highest dust levels without effective protection. Published studies (including coverage on a former Anglo mine)have shown an alarmingly high prevalence of silicosis and TB in black miners. According to eminent medical expert Professor Tony Davies, there is a "river of disease flowing out of the South African gold mines". Miners with silicosis are unable to continue working. They and their families are left destitute and with poor access to medical facilities, which a senior former Anglo doctor has acknowledged is compounding the problem. It is essential that Anglo assists the miners by establishing a compensation scheme for silicosis sufferers and improving the medical facilities available to ex-miners.
Tony Dykes Action for Southern Africa
Richard Solly London Mining Network
Ruth Tanner War on Want
Meredith Alexander ActionAid
• One budget measure that has been missed is a massive corporate tax giveaway through changes to the "controlled foreign companies" rules (Editorial, 12 April). These changes will make it far easier for Britain's biggest multinationals to shift profits into tax havens, opening up a major new area of tax avoidance. UK taxpayers and developing countries will pick up the bill: the UK exchequer will lose £1bn a year while ActionAid has estimated potential collateral damage of up to £4bn to poor countries' revenues – nearly half the UK aid budget. When the finance bill returns to parliament next week MPs must give this measure the tough scrutiny it deserves.
Mike Lewis
Tax justice policy adviser, ActionAid UK