Killer disease puts us top of the table

13 November 2009

Asbestos-linked cancer deaths have put Havering at the top of a killer disease league table.

Incidents of the cancer caused by breathing in the deadly fibres claimed the lives of 193 borough residents between 1981 and 2005.

Havering had six more victims than the next highest area of mesothelioma concentration found in neighbouring Barking and Dagenham.

Experts believe death rates are linked to industrial activity in which asbestos was used.

Cape Asbestos' Barking factory in Harts Lane opened in 1913, and employed some 10,142 people from around the area until production stopped in 1966.

Solicitor and Havering councillor, Keith Darvill, 61, said: "The fact Havering is so high in the league table doesn't surprise me.

"Both my father and uncle worked in the London docks when they had to handle loose asbestos.

"Lots of dockers and people working in the Cape Asbestos factory would have lived in Havering, and Barking and Dagenham."

Last month the husband of a teacher who died after exposure to asbestos in a Romford school was awarded £180,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Joan Henry died of mesothelioma, aged 57-years-old.

Her widower Stephen Henry, 59, said: "I'm not surprised by these figures. In fact, I can see them rising over the next few years as more people show the consequences of coming into contact with asbestos.

"There is a 30 year lag between exposure and symptoms. There was an asbestos factory in Barking, I don't think we have seen all the consequences from that yet."

Mr Henry of Hornchurch, urged authorities to remove any last pockets of asbestos wherever they exist.

Health and Safety Executive director Stephen Williams said: "Asbestos is Britain's biggest industrial killer, and the risks are not a thing of the past.

"Asbestos-related illnesses claim the lives of 4,000 people every year - more than die in road accidents.

"If you are not 100 per cent certain that there is no asbestos where you are working, then don't start work.