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You may have read Twister Ken’s appreciation of Val Missen (my wife & sailing companion, referred to by me as Mrs Mate). Today I attended her inquest. Val contracted mesothelioma because her employer, SE Gas as was, exposed her to Asbestos in the late 1960's some 5 years after the Factories Inspectorate had warned that even a single fibre could be lethal and staff must be protected from it. Mark you, the first recorded note of problems with asbestos and its lethal nature are a little earlier than that: the Romans issued their slaves with masks as they were aware then that the fibres caused disease.
This is not a diatribe against the Gas Board who we sued – and won, although I would feel justified in one, but a stark warning to all. Further use of asbestos was not banned in this country until 1997: at least Labour got that right, but there are an estimated 600 million tons of the stuff in the UK already in use.
The major manufacturers of this stuff (mined in South Africa) have long mounted a campaign to avoid paying compensation to those killed in extracting it and in denying that it is really harmful- so publicity is not as widespread as it might be.
You might find it as insulation around boat heater exhausts, or as that white corrugated stuff on shed roofs or in the plasterboard of the 1970’s or even as flat board forming the wall in your child’s school. Mesothelioma takes some 25-30 years to manifest itself and so the insurance companies took what they saw as a calculated risk over its use by their clients. Now we are all living longer they are of course screaming like stuck pigs that the payouts are too generous. Of course, we are only talking of a fatal and painful disease: it’s not as if we had been libelled. Moreover, the numbers involved seem likely to make the scares over CJD a tea party in comparison. The coroner for NE Hampshire said he is getting about one case a week with an expected peak in 2012. After this people should have known of the dangers of asbestos and cases should fall.
However, if you do find asbestos anywhere, then DON’T:
- drill it, or saw it;
- allow any fibres to be distributed,
- allow the kids to stick drawing pins in the asbestos wall at school;
- throw it away at the usual rubbish dump – there will be special asbestos tip;
- mess with it in any way, leave it to the experts – and make sure they are taking all precautions.
You may be OK but the fibres are pernicious and you could easily kill someone nearby.
I say this because dying from mesothelioma is inevitable and is a nasty way to go: if you are unlucky even morphine cannot control the pain.
I have waited a while to post this as losing Mrs Mate is worse than I could have believed and I wanted to be able to write coherently. Therefore this will be my last post but if it stops even one of you getting this awful disease then it will have been worth it.
Great sailing to you all.
This is not a diatribe against the Gas Board who we sued – and won, although I would feel justified in one, but a stark warning to all. Further use of asbestos was not banned in this country until 1997: at least Labour got that right, but there are an estimated 600 million tons of the stuff in the UK already in use.
The major manufacturers of this stuff (mined in South Africa) have long mounted a campaign to avoid paying compensation to those killed in extracting it and in denying that it is really harmful- so publicity is not as widespread as it might be.
You might find it as insulation around boat heater exhausts, or as that white corrugated stuff on shed roofs or in the plasterboard of the 1970’s or even as flat board forming the wall in your child’s school. Mesothelioma takes some 25-30 years to manifest itself and so the insurance companies took what they saw as a calculated risk over its use by their clients. Now we are all living longer they are of course screaming like stuck pigs that the payouts are too generous. Of course, we are only talking of a fatal and painful disease: it’s not as if we had been libelled. Moreover, the numbers involved seem likely to make the scares over CJD a tea party in comparison. The coroner for NE Hampshire said he is getting about one case a week with an expected peak in 2012. After this people should have known of the dangers of asbestos and cases should fall.
However, if you do find asbestos anywhere, then DON’T:
- drill it, or saw it;
- allow any fibres to be distributed,
- allow the kids to stick drawing pins in the asbestos wall at school;
- throw it away at the usual rubbish dump – there will be special asbestos tip;
- mess with it in any way, leave it to the experts – and make sure they are taking all precautions.
You may be OK but the fibres are pernicious and you could easily kill someone nearby.
I say this because dying from mesothelioma is inevitable and is a nasty way to go: if you are unlucky even morphine cannot control the pain.
I have waited a while to post this as losing Mrs Mate is worse than I could have believed and I wanted to be able to write coherently. Therefore this will be my last post but if it stops even one of you getting this awful disease then it will have been worth it.
Great sailing to you all.
