The trial has begun in Turin, Italy of two former heads of Eternit, Stephan Schmidheiny and Baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, who are accused of failing to ensure adequate safety standards at the asbestos plants run by Eternit in Italy in the 1980s and 1990s. The number of plaintiffs in the suit exceed a thousand and include certain government authorities and consumer groups. The trial follows an alleged 2000 asbestos-related deaths amongst Eternit employees, their families and residents living close to Eternit’s factories.