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City fined £14,000 over asbestos risks

(The Scotsman 12/11/2009)

COUNCIL bosses hit by a £14,000 fine for putting workers at risk of exposure to asbestos today said they were confident it would not happen again after tightening up safety procedures. Edinburgh City Council was yesterday fined after admitting putting 14 of its workers at risk of exposure to the substance. The workers, including joiners, had been instructed to remove laboratory doors from Castlebrae Community High School in 2007, and carry out alterations at the council's workshop.

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Hidden threat from asbestos in our gardens

(The Scotsman 08/11/2009)

HEALTH experts have warned that "disturbingly high concentrations" of asbestos are being found in suburban gardens across Scotland. The Edinburgh Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) said the cancer-causing material was now being regularly discovered in the backyards of homes built on reclaimed industrial land. The material %u2013 used extensively by the construction industry as a fire retardant in the 20th century %u2013 has been left in the ground after the demolition of former industrial buildings.

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Asbestos exposure linked to cancer of ovaries and larynx

(Mirror 26/05/2009)

Asbestos exposure can cause ovarian cancer and cancer of the larynx, experts have confirmed. The warning comes from a group of 27 World Health Organisation scientists. They also say there is "limited evidence" that the fibre can raise the risk of cancers of the bowel, the stomach and the throat. It is already established that asbestos exposure causes mesothelioma - cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen.

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Cash demand for asbestos cancer

(BBC 20/05/2009)

Campaigners and MPs are demanding the government stump up millions of pounds to rectify the "woefully inadequate" funding of asbestos cancer research. More than 20,000 people have signed a petition urging the creation of a specialist research centre. Activists argue mesothelioma - caused by asbestos exposure - is the least researched of the UK's top 20 cancers. It mainly affects those who worked with the heatproof material, which was used widely in construction until the 1980s.

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Scottish asbestos victims win legal battle

(The Scotsman 12/05/2009)

VICTIMS of an asbestos-related condition have won the right to be represented in the legal battle over the right to compensation, it was announced today. Some of the UK's biggest names in insurance are fighting a new law in Scotland which gives victims of pleural plaques - a symptomless thickening of lung membranes - the right to seek damages. The industry argues that the law contravenes the European Convention on Human Rights and insurers' "economic rights".

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Asbestos 'causing teacher deaths'

(BBC 16/04/2009)

Asbestos must be removed from schools to prevent the risk of cancer to pupils and teachers, a teaching union says. 228 teachers died from asbestos-related diseases between 1991 and 2005, Health and Safety Executive figures show. The annual conference of the NASUWT teaching union agreed the government must work towards removing asbestos in all schools to halt new cancer cases.

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Asbestos-related condition 'a good thing', says lawyer

(The Scotsman 03/09/2008)

AN INSURANCE lawyer yesterday claimed an asbestos-related condition was a "good thing" because it proved the body's defences were in good working order.

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Asbestos damages plans 'flawed'

(BBC 02/09/2008)

Plans to help compensate people in Scotland suffering from past exposure to asbestos are heavily criticised. New laws would overturn a House of Lords ruling which said damages could not be claimed for pleural plaques, a benign scarring of the lungs.

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Cancer man wins £130,000 in asbestos case

(The Scotsman 20/08/2008)

A CANCER sufferer who is terminally ill won a £130,000 damages award yesterday. Mr Renfrew, 63, of Ardrossan, Ayrshire, sued two companies, Lithgows and Scotts' Shipbuilding, over his exposure to asbestos while working as a painter in Clydeside yards between 1959 and 1973. The firms admitted liability but disputed the level of damages he should receive.

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