Asbestos News
UK wife dies of second-hand asbestos exposure
While asbestos often affects blue-collar workers because of the prevalence of the naturally occurring substance in the sector, it also can harm their family members.A coroner's inquest in the UK recently heard that a housewife died of mesothelioma as a result of the exposure she endured while cleaning her husband's clothing, according to Southern Daily Echo. Wendy Riley's husband worked in both insulation and shipbuilding, two of the many industries where asbestos use was widespread not only because of its insulating properties but because of its resistance to fire.
By the mid-1960s it was proven that exposure to the substance could cause a number of diseases including lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, the rare cancer that claimed Riley's life.
According to the UK newspaper the Mirror, malignant mesothelioma causes the death of an individual every five hours in the UK.
The news source reports Sarah Whitby, assistant deputy coroner for Central Hampshire, officially recorded the cause of death as an industrial disease, meaning Riley's mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos.
9/23/11
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