Scales of justice will weigh gold against cost to health

Human rights lawyer Richard Spoor, who last week won the right for mineworkers with silicosis to institute a class action against gold mining companies, says his 11-year legal battle wouldn't have been necessary if the government had done its job.The government failed "dismally" to enforce health and safety legislation or compensate miners for occupational diseases such as silicosis and tuberculosis, he says.