Asbestos death toll ‘under-estimated'
Asbestos death toll 'under-estimated'
The Health and Safety Executive's estimate of 4,000 asbestos related deaths a year falls well short of the real toll, campaigners and health experts have said. HSE's use in radio advertisements of the figure, based largely on the combined mesothelioma and lung cancer toll attributed to the disease, was criticised by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for not making clear it was an estimate. The mesothelioma figure is taken from officially confirmed and registered deaths. However, there is no equivalent register of occupational lung cancer deaths, so the asbestos contribution is an estimate based on the proportion of all lung cancers the safety watchdog believes could be attributed to work. Consultant thoracic surgeon, John Edwards, commended the HSE campaign and said the safety watchdog's figures are 'an under-estimate, if anything'. He said: 'It is a fact that at least 4,000 people are dying a year from asbestos-related cancer in the UK. Evolving evidence suggests that this is an underestimate and that consequentially it is of utmost importance that we minimise future exposures to asbestos, as well as identify problems in those people who have previously been exposed.' Laurie Kazan-Allen, coordinator of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), said she was 'appalled' by the ASA's ruling. She added: 'When mesothelioma and asbestosis deaths are added to fatalities caused by cancers of the lung, larynx, ovary and stomach - other cancers now linked to asbestos exposure - the huge price paid for the country's failure to act on the asbestos danger becomes apparent.'
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