Asbestos linked to workers' deaths
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• At the inquests of three men whose deaths were suspected of being related to breathing asbestos dust the coroner. Sir Montague Levine. told the jury: "It is possible for a young person of 21) to inhale a lethal amount of asbestos fibres while working with the substance for just one day. That person could be sympton-free for 35 years and then die of asbestosis or tnesothelioma." He continued: "Others can work regularly with the substance and never get any illness at all, and that is the most insidious and sinister aspect of asbestos."
The jury heard of three cases. Two of deaths caused by 'aggressive' mesthelioma tumors in workers who had been in constant contact with the substance over a number of years.
The third involved a haulier who had worked with and transported asbestos for many years. He suffered from breathlessness for nine years from what was diagnosed as asbestosis by a medical board. But his death was caused by heart disease.
The jury's verdict was death by industrial disease in the first two cases. In the third the jury returned a verdict of death by natural causes.