Mesothelioma Register Records Rising Fatality.

Jan. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), between 1968 and 2008, there had been an 100-fold increase in mesothelioma fatality with more than 2,200 cases reported. Just one year later, over 100 new cases had been recorded. The number of asbestosis claim cases has more than doubled from nearly 600 in 2007 to just over 1,160 in 2010.

Figures for all deaths from the incurable asbestos-related cancer, are recorded on a ‘mesothelioma register’, introduced by the government in 1967. Despite the first officially recorded asbestos-related death described as “pulmonary asbestosis” in 1924, and the introduction of the first Asbestos Industry Regulations in 1931, it was not until the mid-1950s that growing asbestos awareness linked workers exposure to asbestosis diseases and mesothelioma cancer.

Unfortunately, many industry employers who were dependent on using the cheap insulating material in the manufacture of their particular products often wilfully neglected or simply refused to acknowledge the extent of the health risk to their workforce. Asbestos Regulations, introduced in 1969, limited asbestos dust exposure for the first time but an outright ban on the import of the most dangerous forms of brown and blue asbestos did not happen until 1985.

However, use of white asbestos continued to be used in the construction industry up until 1998. As a result, deaths from mesothelioma continue to rise many decades after employees were first exposed. A long latency period of up to 50 years can elapse from first exposure, which means that workers who breathed in the deadly fibres in their 20s or 30s would not be aware of the first signs of mesothelioma or asbestosis symptoms until long after retirement age. By this late stage, the advanced condition of the disease means a patient’s survival rate is unlikely to be more than 4 – 12 months.

Mesothelioma most seriously affects  the workforce in the key industrial areas of Scotland, North of England, the Midlands and South of England ports, where asbestos material was most widely used in building and construction, manufacturing, engineering, shipbuilding and other industrial applications, such as in foundries, the railways and automotive assembly.

At least twenty cities from Glasgow, Inverclyde, Sunderland and Barrow-In-Furness to Plymouth, Southampton and Dagenham, which often appeared in recorded mesothelioma deaths, developed industries which used asbestos for an extensive number of insulating and fire-retardant products and processes.

With around 2,000 cases of mesothelioma diagnosed every year in the UK, current forecasts estimate that a further 45,000 mesothelioma deaths can be expected by 2050.

Visit http://www.asbestosvictimadvice.com for more information and advice.

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