Police have warned vandals who broke into a school and cemetery in Clydebank, Scotland that they have been exposed to asbestos.  The vandals broke into the former St Eunan’s Primary School, Clydebank and stole copper pipes that were covered in asbestos lagging.

 

 

Police said that the vandals struck the pipes against trees, headstones and a dividing wall between the school and the cemetery and in the process damaged the asbestos lagging, releasing asbestos fibres.

 

West Dunbartonshire Council has advised those involved in the break-in to seek medical advice and warned that they may have also put their families at risk.  The Council has ordered an environmental clean up of the area and contaminated soil.

 

Chief Inspector Andy Hutton, of Clydebank Police Office, said: "I would encourage anyone in the immediate area of the cemetery who finds copper piping which appears to be insulated to avoid touching it and inform the police of the discovery.

"This will allow us to work together with West Dunbartonshire Council and ensure that the correct people capable of dealing with such matters are informed.

"Whilst we are concerned for the health of those responsible, we will continue to treat this act of mindless vandalism as a crime and investigate it accordingly."

 

Asbestos exposure can cause various conditions including mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening.

 

Mesothelioma is an aggressive and terminal type of cancer which affects the lining of the lung. It is caused by inhaling microscopic asbestos fibres in the air. Asbestos based products were heavily used in industries such as construction during the twentieth century. Blue and brown asbestos were banned in 1985. The use of white asbestos was not completely banned until 1999.  All forms of asbestos are still in many buildings nationwide.

 

The effects of asbestos on the body can take decades to develop. There is currently no known cure for mesothelioma. Most people who develop mesothelioma die within an average of 9 to 12 months from diagnosis. Traditional cancer treatments, such as cisplatin based chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy, have proved to have very little effect on it. Currently in the UK approximately 2,400 people die of mesothelioma every year. The amount has been steadily increasing over the last decade with a peak in numbers not expected until 2020.

 

 

About John Pickering and Partners LLP

 

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

 

We are a dedicated personal injury law firm who do not do other types of work.  We specialise in claiming damages for asbestos sufferers. We have been handling compensation claims for industrial disease for over 30 years. Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims who suffer from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening. We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers. We have an ethical approach and donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers.  We have set up a charitable trust to help to fund medical research into mesothelioma and various organisations that help and support asbestos sufferers and their families.

 

Find out more about our donations to good causes. We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law. Find out more about us or  our reported cases. We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides.  Find out more about what others have said about us.

 

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the landmark Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.

 

The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life." Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.

 

Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs. It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum).

 

More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015. 

 

The first Action Mesothelioma Day was launched on 27th February 2006.  Its objectives were to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and education of people who may be exposed to asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.

 

Contact us to find out more about your entitlement to claim compensation if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer or pleural thickening.

 

For more information about asbestos diseases-

www.johnpickering.co.uk

 

For practical information and support concerning mesothelioma-

www.mesothelioma-advice.co.uk

 

For more information about claiming for different types of asbestos disease-

Mesothelioma compensation claims

Lung cancer compensation claims

Asbestosis compensation claims

Pleural thickening compensation claims

 

 

For more an explanation about different types of asbestos conditions-

Different asbestos conditions

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