Canadian studies say 1,500 mesothelioma deaths expected in next five years

VANCOUVER, British Columbia â€" A recent analysis by B.C. construction unions states that 300 workers will die of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related disease every year of the next five years. According to Wayne Peppard, executive director of the BC an Yukon â€" Building and Construction Trades Council, more than 1.500 construction workers will die of mesothelioma and other diseases related to asbestos exposure over the next five years. The statement by the Council is based on the preliminary statistics released by WorkSafeBC (formerly the Workcers’ Compensation Board) and research at the UBC School of Environmental Health. A doctor who has performed several successful mesothelioma operations and a professor of at the UBC School of Environmental Health agree with the analysis by the building trades union. Professor Paul Demers of the UBC School says that the conservative estimate is 65 to 70 mesothelioma cases and about 150 asbestos related lung cancers each year. In addition, Demers says, asbestos also causes asbestosis and other cancers, including laryngeal, colorectal and stomach, and misdiagnosed cases of mesothelioma. When all are totaled, he said, the most conservative estimate is that there will be 250 to 300 new mesothelioma and asbestos related diseases diagnosed each year. Most will eventually die from those diseases. He adds that the general trend is more cases each year, and that the trend is not expected to crest for at least ten years. In B.C., he says, he expects that the rate will not be lower for at least five years. Wayne Laxton of the BC Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, Local 118 said that workers in the insulation industry have been heavily exposed. He urges widows of deceased union members to demand an autopsy because it’s the only way to know for sure whether a death was caused by mesothelioma or another asbestos related disease. Laxton says that there are thousands of British Columbians who have asbestos fibers in their lungs and don’t know they’ve been exposed to asbestos. Peppard says that not all mesothelioma fatailities are recorded in the WorkSafeBC statistics because they only register and track their own accepted cases. The new research, he says, shows that we can expect at least 300 asbestos related deaths this year and each year for the next five years. Peppard called for the Canadian and Quebec governments to stop the production and use of asbestos. He says that the new statistics prove that asbestos is simply too dangerous a substance to be used and it’s long past time that the governments stopped its production and use. (Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News)