PM Urged To Act On Asbestos Deaths
A petition with over 24,000 signatures was handed into 10 Downing Street this week calling on the government to fund a National Centre for Asbestos Related Disease (NCARD). Campaigners are fighting for a virtual centre to help fund research into asbestos related diseases including mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs.
They are asking for the government to provide £7m for the centre to fund research into the disease. Mesothelioma is the least researched of the top 20 cancers, a disease which has devastated millions of families worldwide and kills over 2,000 each year in the UK.
The petition was presented by Chris Knighton, of the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund, mesothelioma sufferer Jan Egerton, John Edwards of the British Mesothelioma Interest Group, Liz Darlinson of Mesothelioma UK and Paula Walker, chair of the National Asbestos Support Group Forum.
Chris Knighton said: "Mesothelioma takes the lives of 2,000 people in the UK each year and the number of deaths is not expected to peak until 2015. We do not have the time to sit back and wait. We must take action against this devastating disease now and that means providing significant funding to the medical researchers who are desperate for funds to develop lifesaving treatments. Funding for a UK National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases is a priority. Such an institution would encourage collaboration and stimulate research to generate future treatments to prolong and save lives."
Source: TUC Risks
