MORE than 3 per cent of men in Europe will die of asbestos-related diseases,
the Congress of the European Respiratory Society in Berlin heard this week.
Despite restrictions on the use of asbestos introduced 30 years ago, 30,000
new cases of asbestos-related cancer occur annually in industrialised
countries—and they are on the increase, says Antti Tossavainen of the
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health. “It takes 30 to 40 years for
mesothelioma cases to occur following exposure.”
This deadly type of lung tumour is almost exclusively linked to asbestos. In
addition, other types of lung cancer, and asbestosis, are…
