Mesothelioma - an epidemic that will outlive all of us

Action Mesothelioma Day was 27th February 2007.

Hundreds of mesothelioma victims and their families gathered in cities across the UK to mark Action Mesothelioma Day and to witness the release of thousands of sponsored balloons into the sky in memory of those who have lost their lives to mesothelioma. Events took place in Doncaster, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle during the day. There was a reception at the Houses of Parliament in the evening. The events were also attended by asbestos support groups, trade union delegates and specialist solicitors representing mesothelioma sufferers.

The meetings started with a one minute silence to remember people who have died from mesothelioma. A hard hitting video entitled “Mesothelioma: a Human Face to an Asbestos Epidemic” followed, with mesothelioma sufferers and their families, sharing their experiences of this life-threatening asbestos disease. The video showed that mesothelioma is not an illness that affects only older men - one of those featured was, Andrew Barnes, 36, who was exposed to asbestos at the age of 16 when he was an apprentice electrician.

Watch the video here

See some photos from the events:
Liverpool

Manchester

Doncaster

Mesothelioma
According to the British Lung Foundation, 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 British Lung Foundation, supported by John Pickering and Partners LLP, launched the first Action Mesothelioma Day on 27th February 2006, 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 working with asbestos. The event this year, on 27th February 2007, launched the Mesothelioma Framework, initiated by Professor Mike Richards, the “cancer tsar” and highlighted the British Thoracic Society’s guidelines on treatment and care for people with mesothelioma.

John Pickering and Partners LLP

John Pickering and Partners LLP is a specialist 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 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.

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

Further information:
Ruth Davies, Partner
John Pickering and Partners LLP
20 Clare Road Halifax
HX1 2HX
Telephone: 01422 345535
E-mail: rd@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
FREEPHONE: 0800 854201