Patients and their families will gathered on Friday 5th July at St. Nicholas Parish Church, Liverpool for a dove release to commemorate all those who have died of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung caused by asbestos.
This was followed by an event at the Racquets Club Hotel adjacent to the Church, which inluded guest speakers and stalls from local and nattional solitictors sponsering this annual event,
Action Mesothelioma Day (AMD) is held globally to raise awareness of the disease which causes over 7,000 deaths plus per year in the UK and approximately 240,000 deaths globally.
The event was organised by the Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group with all proceeds going to research into finding better treatment and a cure for these insidious diseases.
Derek Maylor, CWU retired member from Greater Merseyside Amal branch and a MAVSG trustee, and Chris Ingram also CWU retired member from the same branch and web editor of unionsafety.eu report on the days activities:

John Flanagan from MAVSG opened the day whilst the Scroll of Remembrance on a screen named many of the local victims who lost their fight against mesothelioma.
Deputy Lord Mayor Of Liverpool
Councillor Barbara Murray welcomed everyone to the day's events. She was also very busy visiting the stall holders, speaking to them about the legal work they do in support of the victims of asbestos exposure. She also took the opportunity to chat with several victim's and their family members attending the AMD event.
Picture Gallery of sponsors and stalls

Pesentation To Dean Thomas
MAVSG where pleased to present an award to Dean Thomas for his fundraising in memory of Bill, his late grandfather who died of mesothelioma, with donations raised going to mesothelioma research following his running of the Manchester marathon to raise money to help others. Such efforts keep the Group going, enabling support and offering assistance when needed to help families and victims.
Dean was then warmly congratulated by Deputy Lord Mayor Councillor Barbara Murray who noted that it was important to commemorate those who have passed away and those who live with the disease. Education and awareness of all asbestos related diseases is crucial, particularly to our young people and young workers.
Dean spoke about his Grandad, Bill, for whom he ran the marathon in his memory to help others.
Bill was an ex-Navy man who after leaving the service went on to work on the docks. In 2023 he
was
diagnosed with cancer and became ill very quickly. Surrounded by his family he eventually lost his battle and Dean took up the challenge running a marathon so he could give something back to local charities who had been supportive of Bill and his family.
We need better support for those who fall victims and the excellent work currently being undertaken by Liverpool University is very promising going forward. Cllr Barbara Murray thanked everybody at the event, even just attending is recognition that we can, and do, help each other, she said.
The event moved to St Nicholas’ Church Gardens for the Spirit of Hope Dove Release.


Guest Speaker: Niall Keith
Dr Niall Kenneth University of Liverpool talked about new ideas for testing mesothelioma so treatment can be personalised. Animal testing is historic but no longer acceptable as social values have progressed, but this has led to exciting developments in that area.
Only 1% of good (medical) ideas end up in clinical trials and only 1% of trials end up going to a patient. Our bodies are made up of 30 trillion cells, building blocks of tissues and organs carefully controlled in healthy tissues. Cancer calls are cells that have “gone wrong”, growing and dividing without control forming tumours and interfering with normal tissues.
As people we are all individuals with our own characteristics, mesothelioma is the same, different to an induvial patient, so if we can target treatment to that individual, it would be the best therapy. Tumour suppressors and immune markers which has led to a drug called ADI-PEG20, the research pipeline takes time but will (hopefully) lead to clinical trials.
The combination of patient tissue from diagnostic biopsy and an egg can be combined to test tumour management for an individual with meaningful results withing two weeks – personalised medicine. This method can test five (or more) different drugs that genetically suit a specific patient then select the best one for the patients’ treatment.
Guest Speaker: Darren Evans
Darren Evans of Airborne Environmental Consultants Ltd (AEC) said:
“AEC is proud to support AMD 2024. We are still hearing too often the heartbreaking stories of families that are impacted by mesothelioma.
Our work aims to protect the welfare of workers as risk of exposure to asbestos, through training and consultancy to industry. We continue to monitor and consult with Government to review the regulations and safe practices, with the view of reducing the fatality statistics and look forward to seeing the Government make changes for better outcomes”.
Darren gave a history and perspective from 20 years ago when the HSE enacted Regulation 4, the duty to manager asbestos in non-domestic buildings, which was written into the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 which had an 18 month lead in).
He noted that it is 100 years since Nellie Kershaw’s medical recognition of her asbestosis, and, Merseyside has seen much of the asbestos used or passing through the docks over this time. The Control of Asbestos Regulation 2012 gave some abnormalities, such as a flat (dwelling) is not covered but the corridor outside may be. Asbestos surveying work itself is not even licenced.
- We have used asbestos in the UK extensively since the 1880s.
- It was imported from Southern Africa, Canada and Australia.
- Used initially in textiles, shipbuilding and rail work, then in construction materials on building sites around the United Kingdom.
- We stopped importing crocidolite (blue) 1985.
- We stopped using sprayed coatings in 1972.
- We banned all amphiboles in 1980.
- We banned further products in 1993.
- We banned all asbestos in 1999
However asbestos related deaths are not receding as predicted and a simple reliance on regulations that devolve responsibilities to duty holders is not sufficient. The HSEs funding, needed to police asbestos regulations, has halved in the last 14 years and there are only 50% of inspectors compared to 2010/11.
Looking at schools as an example, the HSE report in July when they looked at 421 schools – 75% of which contained asbestos. We must do better.
Closure of the event:
John Flangan thanked those giving their time to host the information stalls and MAVSG volunteers, Chris Ingram our photographer for the day for donating his services free of charge. Special thanks went to speakers Dr Niall Kenneth, Darren Evans, guest Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr Barbara Murray and to Dean Thomas.

In compliing this report of the events of the day, Derek Maylor gives credit to the following sources:
Airborne Environmental Consultants Ltd https://aec.u/k
Union Safety www.unionsafety.eu
Irwin Mitchell www.irwinmitchell.com
Leigh Day www.leighday.co.uk
Asbestos Law Partnership www.asbestoslawpartnership.co.uk
Slater Gordon www.slatergordon.co.uk
Thompsons www.thompsons.law
MAVSG. (22 May 2024). Laboratory Visit. Liverpool University.