Asbestos News

A coroner's inquest in the UK recently heard that a 67-year-old man died of asbestosis.

Carroll Jerome De Castellnou Trilles worked at a foundry and a plating facility for part of his career and was also an air frame fitter at a British air force base, according to ThisIsWiltshire.co.uk.

Trilles' brother wrote to the coroner about the departed's work history, saying that he was often exposed to asbestos while on the job.

Many blue-collar workers come in contact with asbestos while working as the naturally occurring material was once widely used in a number of industries because of its utility as an insulator and its resistance to fire. However, by the mid-1960s it became known that asbestos exposure could cause a number of serious illnesses such as malignant mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.

Assistant deputy coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon Ian Singleton determined that asbestos had contributed to the death of Trilles, who was also a heavy smoker.

"It is clear on the balance of probability that death was due to industrial disease," he said during the inquest. "Asbestos contributed to his death."