date: 25 April 2001

embargo: 00.01 hrs Saturday 28 April 2001

Attention: business and health correspondents, news desks


TUC figures reveal asbestos deaths in the South East hit 2,664 in four years

Over 2,500 people have died - nearly two every day - in the South East outside Greater London as a result of working with asbestos over the last four years, according to a new TUC report released today (Saturday).

Mapping the misery of asbestos contains a series of league tables showing the deaths from asbestos across the UK since 1997. It is released to coincide with International Workers’ Memorial Day, which this year is being used by the TUC and trade unions across the world to remember those who have already died from working with asbestos and to make the case for action to prevent more deaths in the future.

Every year in the UK 4,500 people die from asbestos-related diseases (more than the number killed on the roads every year), and by 2020, it has been estimated that the substance will be responsible for over 10,000 deaths a year.

In the South East, the asbestos hotspot is Hampshire. In the county, Eastleigh (which with 72 deaths has the third highest death rate in Britain, probably reflecting the town’s railway engineering works), Southampton (204 deaths - the seventh worst record) and Gosport (72 deaths - eighth worst in the country) - all reflect exposures to asbestos in shipbuilding and repairs.

In Mapping the misery of asbestos, the TUC has ranked the counties in the South East by the death rate per million people, showing where the asbestos plague is worst:

1 Isle of Wight 72 deaths since 1997 - the third worst death rate for any county in England

2 Hampshire 792 deaths - the fifth worst county in England

3= Berkshire 276 deaths

3= Kent 540 deaths

4 West Sussex 240 deaths

5 East Sussex 228 deaths

6= Buckinghamshire 192 deaths

6= Oxfordshire 48 deaths

7 Surrey 276 deaths

To mark International Workers’ Memorial Day, trade unionists in the South East have organised a number of events including Southampton UNISON’s display in the civic centre foyer for the week before the day, with art work, sculptures, poems, tributes and information.

TUC Regional Secretary Mick Connolly said: 'These sad statistics are a legacy of our industrial past. The tragedy is that many more people who were exposed years ago will die whatever we do now, so for them our priority must be to get them the compensation they are rightly entitled to. No amount of money is going to bring their health back, but it will at least let them end their lives, knowing that provision has been made for their loved ones.

'But no one should think that asbestos is yesterday’s problem - there are still millions of tonnes of this fatal fibre in cement sheets, lagging for pipes and boilers, brake linings and other products. We can only stem the current epidemic if we take action today. We must make sure that people at work are protected from asbestos exposure. Otherwise the death toll caused by this lethal material will continue to rise, and asbestos will go on destroying families.

'On International Workers’ Memorial Day, we will be remembering the dead, and committing ourselves to fight for the living.'

In Mapping the misery of asbestos the TUC is calling for:

  • a global ban on asbestos;

  • a public register of the asbestos which is still in so many buildings; and

  • more help for sufferers, including full and fair compensation.

Notes to Editors: Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibre often used as a fire retardant. Its effect on health has been known for over a century, but unions have had to fight every inch of the way to get its use restricted, leading eventually to a UK and European ban on the importation, sale or new use of all forms of asbestos in 1999. Asbestos causes the rare cancer mesothelioma (affecting the lining of the lung) as well as lung and other cancers.

All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Mapping the misery of asbestos is available

Contacts: Media enquiries : Mick Connolly on 0207 467 1291 or 07887 797157/ Liz Chinchen on 020 7467 1248 or 07699 744115 (pager)

Deaths from asbestos-related diseases since 1997 by local authority area

Berkshire

Bracknell Forest 48 deaths

Reading 60 deaths

Slough 36 deaths

West Berkshire 36 deaths

Windsor and Maidenhead 36 deaths

Wokingham 60 deaths

Buckinghamshire

Milton Keynes 84 deaths

South Bucks 36 deaths

Chiltern 36 deaths

Wycombe 36 deaths

East Sussex

Brighton and Hove 48 deaths

Eastbourne 36 deaths

Hastings 60 deaths

Lewes 60 deaths

Rother 12 deaths

Wealden 12 deaths

Hampshire

Portsmouth 96 deaths

Southampton 204 deaths

Basingstoke and Deane 24 deaths

East Hampshire 12 deaths

Eastleigh 132 deaths

Fareham 48 deaths

Gosport 72 deaths

Havant 48 deaths

New Forest 60 deaths

Rushmoor 12 deaths

Test Valley 24 deaths

Winchester 60 deaths

Isle of Wight 72 deaths

Kent

Medway 132 deaths

Ashford 36 deaths

Canterbury 36 deaths

Dartford 60 deaths

Dover 36 deaths

Gravesham 36 deaths

Maidstone 24 deaths

Sevenoaks 24 deaths

Shepway 12 deaths

Swale 60 deaths

Thanet 60 deaths

Tonbridge and Malling 12 deaths

Tunbridge Wells 12 deaths

Oxfordshire

Cherwell 48 deaths

Oxford 12 deaths

South Oxfordshire 36 deaths

Vale of White Horse 24 deaths

West Oxfordshire 48 deaths

Surrey

Elmbridge 84 deaths

Epsom and Ewell 24 deaths

Guildford 12 deaths

Mole Valley 36 deaths

Reigate and Banstead 36 deaths

Runnymede 48 deaths

Surrey Heath 12 deaths

Waverley 12 deaths

Woking 12 deaths

West Sussex

Adur 48 deaths

Arun 48 deaths

Chichester 36 deaths

Crawley 24 deaths

Horsham 24 deaths

Mid-Sussex 24 deaths

Worthing 36 deaths

Press release (1,000 words) issued 28 Apr 2001

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