A CAMPAIGN is being launched in Plymouth today to highlight the growing number of asbestos victims and the “scandalous” treatment they face.
Led by city law firm Bond Pearce, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the deadly asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma.
It will push for improvements in research and treatment of the “silent epidemic” as well as changes in the law, which denies patients and families compensation.
Plymouth has been highlighted as a hotspot for the disease, which often affects former dockyard workers as well as other tradesmen.
Local MPs, consultants, nurses, patients and their families met to consider how to tackle problems and inequalities.
Bond Pearce’s campaign is the latest to highlight the issues surrounding asbestos-related diseases.
Others include those launched by local mesothelioma sufferer Debbie Brewer, Plymouth woman Jackie Lowe, whose father died of the disease, trade unions, law firms and media organisations.
Andrew Stinchcombe, head of industrial disease for Bond Pearce, said: “We want to highlight the menace of mesothelioma and the scandalous treatment of many victims of this lethal disease.
“We have represented so many sufferers. Many were denied compensation even though they were faultless.
“We are campaigning for changes in the law to deal with the injustices that the victims of this silent epidemic suffer in the South West and across the country.”
He said the USA put Britian to shame over its treatment of mesothelioma sufferers.
The firm has links with American trust funds which pay compensation to British victims who worked at Devonport dockyard on US Navy warships.
The campaign will also call for a change in a law which denies servicemen compensation, where civilians can claim.
This includes the Crown Proceedings Act 1987 which bars from suing the MoD for compensation before that year.
Bond Pearce say further inequalities lie in a legal ruling which means if exposure was prior to 1965, people are unable to claim for physical injury from domestic exposure to asbestos dust because the industry was said to be unaware of the risks.
Mr Stinchcombe added: “Many other clients with mesothelioma have died without any compensation because former employers responsible for exposing them to asbestos have gone out of business and left no insurance cover. The insurance industry has been urged to help but more still needs to be done.
“The Government could change the law.”
The campaign also focuses on the need for further research in asbestos-related conditions, including mesothelioma.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw this year said he wants to set up a national research centre to study asbestos-related illnesses.
Mr Stinchcombe called for details of how it will operate and who will benefit from the research. In particular he stressed the importance of Plymouth being involved in any national research being performed.
Dr Phil Hughes, Derriford Hospital consultant respiratory physician, also spoke at the campaign meeting.
He explained mesothelioma is an aggressive incurable cancer of the lining of the lung or sometimes abdomen. Sufferers experience progressive pain, breathlessness, weight loss and lethargy.
He said: “The sad news is in the next 10 years we will see a peak, certainly in mesothelioma cases.
“There’s some suggestion the peak will be some time in the next five to 10 years, with 2,400 to 2,500 deaths per year.”
Alison Seabeck, Labour MP for Plymouth Devonport, and Gary Streeter, Tory MP for South West Devon, told the campaign meeting they are willing to discuss how to raise compensation issues in Parliament.
Mr Streeter told Mr Stinchcombe: “We are able and willing but you will have to give us the ammunition.”
Plymouth Sutton MP Linda Gilroy, who sits on an a cross-party group on asbestos-related conditions, told The Herald that the issue was of “great concern” to many of her constituents.
She said: “I welcome a campaign which seeks to put further strength behind it [changes to compensation inequalities]. I’m happy to engage with it again.”
She is currently pushing to overturn a law which denies victims of pleural plaques – asbestos-related scarring of the lungs – compensation.
An MoD spokesperson said: “All claims for compensation are considered thoroughly by the MoD. Where there is a proven legal liability compensation is paid.”
Source: thisisplymouth
Comments