Asbestos fear in industrial heartland

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By Andrew Hosken Today Programme Mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer, kills around 1,800 people every year Mesothelioma, an asbestos-related form of lung cancer, could kill up to 100,000 people over the next 20 years, figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) suggest.

One of the hardest hit areas is the industrial north-east of England, where the number of deaths has been steadily growing in recent years and now constitutes around a tenth of all mesothelioma deaths in England.

Most victims of this epidemic will have been exposed while working in traditional industries such as ship building and steel manufacture.

Matty never said 'why me'. He just accepted it Karen Cockburn The latest figures from the HSE show that around 1,800 people die of mesothelioma in England each year - an increase of around 33% compared to eight years previously.

Nearly 170, or 10%, were from south Tyneside and north-east England.

One in four

The reasons for the high incidence of asbestos related diseases are not hard to find.

In North Tyneside, by the ruins of the Roman fort in Wallsend, the cranes of the shipyards where many workers were exposed to asbestos can be seen.

Widows' loss from mesothelioma

According to some campaigners, as many as one in four people in this part of the world either know someone who has an asbestos related disease or has one themselves.

Chris Knighton and Karen Cockburn both lost their husbands to mesothelioma. They are now planting snow drops as part of a local awareness campaign.

Mrs Knighton says she was shocked when her husband Mick, a petty officer in the Royal Navy, was told he had mesothelioma.

"We'd come back from holiday, a fit healthy man 59-years-old and simply didn't expect anything like that at all. To be told - no treatment, no cure," she says.

"So many people know someone, a brother or an uncle. Everyone's family seems to have been affected."

Karen Cockburn's husband Matty developed mesothelioma working in the dockyards in Tyne and Wear.

It's the biggest public health disaster that the world has ever seen Liz Darlison, Mesothelioma UK <a class="" href="/today/hi/today/newsid_7700000/7700020.stm">Asbestos hits a new generation </a> "I know of at least four families now. Another friend died in July, he was 61. He was only diagnosed for three months. It's just going to get worse," she says.

"Matty never said 'why me' he just accepted it."

Not yet peaked

Like families on the Clyde or those associated with the dockyards of Plymouth and Portsmouth, those on Tyneside have long lived with asbestos and are now having to come to terms with the consequences.

Maureen Chaplin is the mayor of Gateshead, just across the Tyne from Newcastle.

Mayor's shock at her mesothelioma

Two years ago she was diagnosed with mesothelioma, which she and her lawyers think she developed 30 years ago working as in a local nursing home.

"If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. Not that I think I'm special. You do think in the beginning when you're diagnosed 'why me' and then you think, why not you?" she says.

"It's very frightening, and very worrying that it still hasn't peaked. There will be a lot more victims.

"It is very worrying that there hasn't been more money put into this to try and find a cure."

In recent months, there have been growing calls on the government to fund more research into mesothelioma. Liz Darlison, a consultant nurse specialising in caring for those with the cancer as well as representing the campaigning organisation Mesothelioma UK, says the numbers affected will grow.

"Epidemic is quite a strong word but I don't think you can underestimate the size of the problem," she says.

"It's the biggest public health disaster that the world has ever seen."

She explains that although the consumption of asbestos has decreased over the last 40 years, the latency period between exposure and the development of disease means that numbers of victims will continue to grow.

Backbone of industry

Increasing numbers of people are now claiming compensation. Ian McFall, head of asbestos policy for the Newcastle-based solicitors Thompsons, says we owe a debt of gratitude to those hit by asbestos-related diseases.

"The people who have developed this illness did so through simply going out to work to earn a living," he says.

"They were the generation who built up the backbone of the economy of this country throughout the post-war years."

Later this month, the High Court will hand down a vital judgement determining compensation for victims of mesothelioma.

How much and how many is not yet known. The only certainty is that most of it will go to people who did the dirty jobs in what was once our industrial heartlands.