Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material, which when inhaled, has life threatening consequences.
All asbestos use was banned in the UK in 1999, but can still be found in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000.
5,000 workers die a year and 2,500 people a year are diagnosed with an Asbestos related disease.
Experts believe that by 2050, 90,000 people will have died as a result of Mesothelioma.
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelial cells, these cells make up the lining that covers the outer surface of most of the body’s organs.
Nearly all treatment is aimed at controlling the diseases for as long as possible and keeping symptoms under control. You may have chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery.
Inspector George Gently on the 6th of May- Breathe in the Air
On the 6th of May the popular series Inspector George Gently did an episode on Asbestos which was called Breathe in the Air. I think it’s great Asbestos is being mentioned on the BBC as it is no way near publicised as much as it should be.
The episode was based in 1969 in Easterhope, and told a story about a woman who had lost her only child to a battle of Mesothelioma ‘A death you wouldn’t put on your worst enemy’ for 3 years when she was just 15, to then watch her Husband fight the same disease.
Both her Daughter and Husband were heavily exposed to Asbestos from the factory her Husband had worked in for many years.
The Asbestos known as ‘White Snow’ came from the factory’s chimneys.
The episode shows her Daughter and another young girl playing games in the ‘White Snow’, that they used to call ‘Snow White’, they would pick it up with their hands and rub it in each other’s faces, not knowing the severe danger they were putting themselves in.
The factory her Husband worked for manufactured Asbestos and should have been following the ‘1931 Asbestos Industry Regulations’, but they chose to put their workers at risk, and let them suffer the consequences.
Don’t let Asbestos ruin yours or anybody else’s life
Asbestos ruins people and their family’s lives and it goes unnoticed.
Many people haven’t heard of Mesothelioma.
Most children and teenagers haven’t heard of Asbestos, when a matter of fact is, it is probably in their schools, and possibly in their homes if built before the year 2000.
The youngest girl to date that has died of an Asbestos related disease was only 18 years old.
Brave Sophie Ellis was diagnosed with Mesothelioma at a heart-breaking age of 13.
Sophie had a courageous battle with Mesothelioma for 5 years until her death at 18 in 2010.
The devastating disease of the lung or the abdomen kills one person every five hours in Britain!
Help us spread awareness
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Tell your friends, family and tell them to tell theirs, how dangerous Asbestos is if handled by somebody who isn’t Asbestos trained.
Read Blog ‘9 THINGS YOU MUST DO IN AN ASBESTOS EMERGENCY’
Media Enquiries:
Victoria Castelluccio, Marketing Officer
victoria.castelluccio@ukata.org.uk
01246 824437
Published on Friday 8th May 2015