Northern Region marks Workers' Memorial Day

Chair of the Northern TUC Health and Safety Forum, Jim Marshall, GMB Regional Health and Safety Officer, opened the Workers Memorial Day seminar highlighting the long and continued trade union struggle to fight asbestos poisoning. Current experience shows that we need to keep on raising awareness about the dangers of asbestos, new cases of asbestos exposure are brought forward every day in the UK; we need to challenge the Law Lords ruling that Pleural Plaques is not injurious to health and therefore does not qualify for compensation; work with partners to build adequate and appropriate support services for victims of asbestos related illnesses and their families.

Dr Robert Allcock, Consultant Chest Physician at Gateshead Health Trust, outlined the wide range of asbestos related illnesses; Pleural Plaques, Pleural Thickening, Asbestosis, Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma, and the increasing risk factor of developing related illnesses through exposure and through smoking - a worker who both smokes and is exposed to asbestos has a 50 times higher risk of developing these illnesses. (Download Dr Allcocks Presentation - PDF)

Although a relatively old illness we are seeing the number of cases coming through now continue to rise, due to the long latency of asbestos before it leads to related illnesses. The peak of asbestos related illnesses will not be reached until 2025, emphasising the need to increase medical interventions and support for victims and families. The number of asbestos related cases is rising, especially for Mesothelioma, the worst, most aggressive of these illnesses.

In the US, where action was taken earlier to ban the import and use of asbestos, the expected death toll over 40 years is 75,000, in Europe this is 250,000, with the north east having more than its fair share of those deaths.

There has been little impact in treating Mesothelioma, a cancer with an average survival rate of less than 12 months. Alimta, developed in Newcastle, with support of the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund, has proved to have some influence on 4 out of 10 sufferers, but nothing so far has proved to save lives.

John Scott, Chair of the Northeast Asbestos Support and Awareness Group and UCATT Regional Secretary, emphasised the ongoing, critical need to improve health and safety right across all workplaces. Workers being killed or disabled at work is a modern day challenge as well as part of the region's history.

Welcoming the new, single, North East Group, John appreciated the valuable work of Kevin Flynn and the support of trade union firms of solicitors in providing vital assistance to victims of asbestos poisoning and their families, and to the very strong and successful campaign to ensure that Alimta would be made available as a prescribed medicine within the NHS.

Next steps for the asbestos campaign: to conduct further research to improve the effectiveness of Alimta for Mesothelioma sufferers; to continue to raise the profile of the scale and severity of asbestos related illness; to reverse the Law Lords decision and get Pleural Plaques restored as an injury for which workers can be compensated; to build the Support Group; and to raise awareness of the ongoing dangers of asbestos exposure.

Briefing document (600 words) issued 29 Apr 2008