Is asbestos behind your health issues?
THE UK, more than 43,000 people a year are diagnosed with lung cancer. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that deadly asbestos dust causes 2,000 of all recorded cases. But legal experts believe the number of asbestos-related lung cancers is far higher than this and are calling on sufferers and health professionals to consider carefully whether asbestos is a potential cause, so that they do not miss out on the substantial support that might be available. Smoking is, of course, the largest cause of lung cancer. However, smokers who have also been exposed to high amounts of asbestos dust have a far greater risk of developing this condition. For many tradesmen, manual workers and engineers, asbestos exposure in the workplace will have been inevitable during the past 60 years. Those who have worked as laggers, electricians, dockers, engineers, joiners, plumbers, welders, builders, fitters and heating engineers, or in any premises where asbestos was widely used (e.g. power stations, shipyards and railways) are likely to have come into contact with it. A lung cancer patient should make their doctor aware if they believe they have been exposed to asbestos in the past. The World Health Organisation estimates that 107,000 people die every year as a result of occupational exposure to asbestos. It is now implicated in many crippling lung diseases including mesothelioma, pleural thickening, asbestosis and pulmonary fibrosis, as well as lung cancer.