March 1st, 2007
A recent report has highlighted the worrying predictions in the UK when it comes to people that will die from asbestos related illnesses. The figures from the report have prompted one leading professor to describe the use of asbestos in the UK as ‘an extraordinary industrial error’.
According to the latest figures around 90,000 people will die as a result of cancer stemming from exposure to asbestos. This form of cancer is known as mesothelioma, and can affect the heart, the lungs, or the abdominal region, and once developed can shorten the lifespan of the sufferer to a matter of months. However, this cancer has a very long latency period can it can take decades from the time of exposure for the cancer to actually manifest.
In addition to these figures it has also been estimated that a further 90,000 people in the UK will die from other asbestos exposure related disease, bringing the figure up to one hundred and eighty thousand. Asbestos exposure can cause a range of health problems including respiratory impairment and lung scarring as well as mesothelioma.
Professor Julian Peto, the chairman of Cancer Research UK and Professor of epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine stated: "Mesothelioma is on a completely different scale from any other industrial cancer disease in the world."
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