Approximately 2,500 lung cancer deaths each year are attributable in part, or in full, to asbestos dust and fibres.
Since its launch in 2019, a lung cancer screening programme is said to have detected the disease earlier in more than 5,000 people according to BBC news online (8 November 2024).
Using a specially adapted lorry visiting supermarkets, football grounds and town centres with the highest rates of the disease, its focus has been on 55 to 74 year olds current and former smokers. The programme will be fully rolled out by 2030.
Lung cancer remains the third most common type of cancer causing 35,000 deaths each year.
Whilst the links between lung cancer and smoking are well established, the Health and Safety Executive estimates that approximately 2,500 lung cancer deaths each year are attributable in part, or in full, to asbestos dust and fibres – more than the number who contract the fatal cancer mesothelioma invariably linked to past asbestos exposure. Smoking and asbestos exposure are said to act synergistically in multiplying the risks of contracting the disease.
Despite this, the number of personal injury cases brought for asbestos related lung cancer remain modest. In part, this is due to the legal proof of causation tests a claimant must overcome in order for the claim to be successful; a claimants past exposure must meet the so called “Helsinki criteria”, which means exposure to asbestos dust and fibres is cumulatively of the order of 25 fibre/ml years. In broad terms, this is equivalent to one year of heavy exposure to asbestos dust/fibre or 5 to 10 years of moderate intensity exposure.
Additionally, exposure to a known carcinogen – i.e. smoking may deter clinicians from taking a documented history of past occupational exposure. Both are significant factors behind the modest number of personal injury claimants who pursue claims for asbestos related lung cancer.
Commentary
The screening programme is a vital tool to achieve early diagnosis of the condition which in turn will drive improved survival rates. It is comforting to note that those in whom the disease is detected early are twenty times more likely to survive for 5 years than those who are not
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