Global Asbestos Awareness Week: Another Year, Same Danger…

Global Asbestos Awareness Week, 1-7 April 2025

Global Asbestos Awareness Week, first introduced by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organisation (ADAO) in 2005, takes please during the first week of April each year. This event provides a focus for us all to increase awareness of the dangers of asbestos exposure and to exchange information and ideas as to how we can unite around the world to put an end to exposure from this deadly substance.

What progress have we made?

Knowledge of the dangers posed by the inhalation of asbestos dust has been developing since the late 19th century. In the UK, the first legislation to protect asbestos workers was enacted in the 1930s. By the 1960s, it was common knowledge that exposure to asbestos dust, even in small amounts, could cause malignant mesothelioma, in workers and indirectly, in their families. In fact, this was reported on the front page of the Sunday Times in October 1965.

Despite this knowledge, the asbestos industry’s involvement in research and its powerful lobbying to protect its interests, meant that the UK’s (eventual) ban on asbestos importation, supply and use only came into effect in 1999.

Because of the long time lag between inhalation of asbestos dust and the onset of symptoms of asbestos disease, particularly mesothelioma, we are still seeing clients who worked with asbestos as early as the 1950s, developing mesothelioma now.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) asbestos-related disease deaths in Great Britain exceeded 5,000 in 2022, as published in late 2024 in its annual report: Asbestos-related disease statistics, Great Britain 2024. To put this into context, Cancer Research UK estimate that mortality rates related to mesothelioma, a fatal cancer caused exclusively from exposure to asbestos fibres, have increased by 887% since the early 1970s.

On a global scale, the World Health Organisation recognises around 125 million people in the world are exposed to asbestos in the workplace – with approximately half of the deaths from occupational cancer estimated to be caused by asbestos. While 55 countries have banned the importation of asbestos, others including Russia, Kazakhstan, Brazil, China, India, Canada and the United States, continue to export it.

Whether we look far away, or closer to home; the impact of asbestos is the same – exposure to asbestos dust can be life-limiting, even fatal. HSE’s most recent campaign, Asbestos: Your Duty, is too pushing the message that the risks associated with asbestos must be taken much more seriously going forward.
This week serves as a reminder to continue fighting the battle against the asbestos industry.

How might I be exposed to Asbestos?

Aside from the obvious trades such as asbestos laggers, asbestos factory workers, any person who worked or does work in the following occupations, could be at risk of exposure to asbestos:

• Carpenters/joiners
• Plumbers
• Electricians
• Painters/decorators
• Plasterers
• Construction workers
• Maintenance staff, such as caretakers
• Engineers
• Fitters
• Mechanics
• Dockers/stevedores

However, the above list is not exhaustive: statistics and our own experience of handling these cases over decades, shows a growing number of mesothelioma sufferers among teaching staff, nurses, doctors and office workers.

Identifying Asbestos products

Within the UK, asbestos can be present in any building built before the year 2000. Unfortunately, it did not miraculously disappear following its ban. Owners of buildings to which the public has access have a duty to regularly inspect and maintain asbestos in their buildings and to keep a register of asbestos, which is to be made available to visitors/workers, on demand.

Some examples of asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) which can still be found in residential or industrial settings include:

• Asbestos pipe lagging
• Asbestos insulation board ceiling tiles and partitions
• Asbestos cement roofing panels, wall panels, gutters and downpipes
• AIB or asbestos cement soffits
• Asbestos sprayed coatings
• Asbestos rope seals, gaskets and paper
• Vinyl floor tiles
• Textiles, such as Asbestos fire blankets
• Textured decorative coating on walls and ceilings, such as Artex
• Any work or contact with asbestos must either be prevented (left in situ, ideally encapsulated, with no disturbance) or its removal must be carried out by a licensed and registered contractor. Unfortunately, all too often we hear of asbestos being removed from properties without the appropriate control measures being taken, thereby exposing occupiers/visitors to the risk of inhaling asbestos fibres.

Asbestos in Talc and Make-up

The terrible impact of asbestos fibres does not end with workplace exposure: asbestos can be found in the day-to-day beauty products we all use; talcum body powder and powdered make-up products containing the mineral, talc.

Products containing talc can be identified by looking at the list of ingredients, listed on the reverse of the packaging or, as is more usually the case now, just on the outer packaging or even, just on the brand website, making the presence of talc harder to detect and avoid.

Talc is usually listed either as ‘talc’ or ‘magnesium silicate’.

How did asbestos get in there? Asbestos and the talc are often found in the same location and so in some areas where talc has been mined, the talc was, and may still be, contaminated with asbestos fibres.

Johnson’s Baby Powder, beloved of families worldwide and first sold in 1894, has been tested and found to have been contaminated with asbestos– something which Johnson & Johnson have always denied, despite having announced their decision to cease production of their Baby Powder and replacing it with a corn starch-based product.

In an attempt to avoid an ever-increasing number of lawsuits filed against the company in the US by talc users who have developed mesothelioma or ovarian cancer, Johnson & Johnson and subsidiaries have, since 2021, filed three bankruptcy petitions in the US courts. The first two petitions were dismissed and the third is ongoing. Sadly, many sufferers have died in the meantime.

Johnson and Johnson are not alone: a significant number of companies’ body powder and make-up has been tested and found to contain asbestos fibres. Despite the “clean beauty “ marketing by major brands, the safest option in terms of talcum powder and make-up is to discard any products you currently have containing talc and to avoid buying products in the future that do. It is safer to buy and use products which are corn-starch based.

The Importance of Awareness

• As the saying goes, knowledge is power, and in learning from what we already know of the horrific legacy of asbestos, by working to ensure that future exposure is prevented, together we can save lives.
• At Hodge Jones & Allen, we share the belief of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization among many others, that prevention remains the only concrete solution and that a worldwide ban on asbestos is needed now.
• In marking Global Asbestos Awareness Week, for those who are sadly suffering the devastating effects of exposure to this toxic material, our specialist Asbestos team can obtain justice, compensation and treatment funding for those illnesses caused by asbestos exposure; all of which are entirely preventable.
• We continue working towards the day when asbestos-related deaths become a thing of the past; not an enduring part of our future.
• Over the last few years our colleagues have taken part in various fundraising and awareness raising initiatives to shed light on the issues raised by Global Asbestos Awareness Week. For instance, as part of the #GoBlueForMeso global mesothelioma awareness campaign members of our Asbestos team took part in the “Miles for Meso” challenge by walking miles for mesothelioma victims at Loch Lomond. This helped the teams raise funds for London Asbestos Support Awareness Group (LASAG), who provide assistance and support to asbestos disease sufferers and their families through donations. We also extended our support to #ActionMeso Day at the Merseyside Asbestos Victims Support Group Charity, honouring the memory of individuals who lost their lives as a result of asbestos exposure.

If you have been affected by asbestos exposure and require legal advice in relation to seeking compensation, please contact our Asbestos & Mesothelioma Compensation Team on  0330 822 3451 for personal, confidential and expert advice.