August 4th, 2005

As Japan deepens its probe into the effects of asbestos in relation to dangerous and deadly health problems, officials have confirmed that at least four women have died through exposure to asbestos that came from their husbands, who worked with asbestos.

Machinery giant, Kubota Corporation in Japan, has already arranged compensation payments to many affected by asbestos, including in cases where the partner of an employee died due to exposure. An official from the company stated: "Because a hospital said there was a strong suspicion of the relationship between the cancer and asbestos from our plant, we paid compensation money to relatives."

In another part of Japan, it has been confirmed that three wives of shipyard workers also died from asbestos related disease. Hirotaro Miura, deputy director of Yokosuka General Hospital Uwamach, stated that he believed the exposure to the partners of the workers occurred through washing the work clothes.

He added that one woman had said that there was so much dust on her husband’s work clothes that she had to turn away when washing them, giving an indication of the level of exposure that often stemmed from this.