A new study suggests that carpenters born in the 1940s are the most likely of all workers in the UK to develop asbestos-related mesothelioma. The study predicts that one in seventeen carpenters born in this period will die from the disease. One in fifty electricians, plumbers and decorators born in the 1940s will die from it, and one in 125 other construction workers will die of the same “rare” disease.
Just as many of these workers will die of asbestos-related lung cancer.
The study also revealed that about two-thirds of male workers and about a quarter of female workers in the UK have had jobs with potential asbestos exposure. Workers in the construction industry continue to face the risk of asbestos exposure, even today.
The study was funded by the UK Health and Safety Executive and Cancer Research UK and was published in the British Journal of Cancer. The study included interviews with 622 mesothelioma patients and 1,400 healthy individuals, and researchers found that 21 percent of the mesothelioma patients interviewed worked as carpenters for some time.
For the full story, go to Safety Media and The Daily Mirror.
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