Plymouth, Leeds and Warrington have been named and shamed as the country’s top three asbestos disease hotspots in new figures released by the Health and Safety Executive this month. The statistics revealed that areas of heavy industry, such as the dockyards at Plymouth, have far higher rates of asbestos related diseases than the rest of the country.
In Plymouth, which had the third highest rate of asbestos related disease according to the HSE statistics, 373 people in the city died from Mesothelioma, an aggressive form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, in the period 1981 to 2005. Use of asbestos in heavy industry and on ships for its fire-retardant qualities was widespread until the mid 20th Century, and workers in these industries were exposed on a daily basis to microscopic asbestos fibres.
It is these fibres, which, when breathed in would find their way into the lungs where they have the potential to cause a wide variety of diseases including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and pleural disease. The asbestos fibres can also cause a variety of other cancers which are more commonly associated with activities such as smoking; these include cancer of the oesophagus, lung cancer and cancers of the stomach, colon and rectum.
With sufferers of asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma typically only living for about 12 months after diagnosis and with no cure available, the primary focus for their care is to ensure they have a good quality of life during their final months. Camps Solicitors can help you to make a claim for asbestos-related disease compensation that may be able to cover the cost of providing this high quality palliative care to help you to make the most of life.
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