Britain Facing Record Asbestos Deaths:
In the United States, we often hear about the dangers of asbestos and the cancers it can cause. Asbestos is a naturally occurring fiber-like mineral that was widely used across the world as a fire-retardant and insulation. Unfortunately, asbestos fibers, when inhaled or ingested, lodge in the body and the lungs and can cause mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissue of the lining of certain organs, including the lungs, abdomen, heart, or testes. Asbestos exposure can also cause a number of other cancers including lung cancer, ovarian cancer, and laryngeal cancer, and conditions such as asbestosis, pleural thickening and pleural effusion.While the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has regulated U.S. workers’ exposures to asbestos since 1971, people are still dying from asbestos exposure in this country. This is because most people aren’t diagnosed with asbestos-related disease until decades after exposure. The same is true in other countries across the world.
Britain Facing Record Asbestos Deaths
Britain banned the use of blue (crocidolite) and brown (amosite) asbestos in 1985, and white (chrysotile) asbestos, which was thought to be less dangerous, in 1999. But rates of mesothelioma in the U.K. have doubled between 1995 and 2017 to more than 2,500 deaths per year. In fact, the United Kingdom has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because the U.K. government allowed the use of asbestos long after other countries outlawed its use. Britain’s Health and Safety Executive estimates that an equal number of people die from asbestos-related lung cancer as well. They predict that the numbers will remain this high for the rest of the decade before beginning to decrease.While Britain did place some limitations on the use of blue (crocidolite) asbestos in the 1970’s, the dangers of brown asbestos (amosite) weren’t fully realized until much later. The UK’s heavy use of asbestos in the shipbuilding and construction industries is one reason why the United Kingdom has some of the highest rates of asbestos-related diseases in the world. Workers from the shipbuilding and construction industry, particularly carpenters, plumbers, boilermakers and electricians and people who worked in factories producing asbestos products, are particularly at risk.Asbestos is also embedded in U.K. homes, schools and shops, and thousands of household and automotive products used by U.K. residents contained asbestos. These products include every-day items such as ovens, stoves, clutches and brakes in cars, fournaces and more.Today in the U.K., workers and residents face serious asbestos-related diseases, and there is increased need for specialty care and compensation. Because many U.K. citizens are still at risk of exposure, it is important they know where asbestos is located and how to avoid or stay safe from exposure to this toxic, fatal substance.
