Asbestos epidemic 'will kill 12,000'

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

Cancers caused by inhaling asbestos dust will kill up to 12,000 New Zealanders, mostly building workers, says a study.

"The asbestos cancer epidemic has started," two Auckland Medical School researchers report in an article published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today.

Professor Tord Kjellstrom and Dr Pamela Smartt told the Herald that based on their calculations, up to 4000 people will die from malignant mesothelioma and another 8000 from asbestos-related lung cancer.

Mesothelioma is a cancerous tumour that usually grows in the pleura, the membrane surrounding the lungs, after microscopic needles of asbestos have "migrated" through the lung tissue.

The disease can lie unnoticed for 30 years after exposure, and then cause only vague symptoms, including breathlessness and chest pain. It is incurable and usually kills within a year of diagnosis.

The researchers have tracked imports of crude asbestos, which peaked at 12,500 tonnes in 1974 and dropped to zero by 1992, suggesting the epidemic could peak in the next 10 to 15 years.

But they expect that an ongoing "tail" of post-epidemic cases resulting from the asbestos already installed in offices, factories and homes will exceed the pre-epidemic background rate.

Retired Auckland builder Geoffrey Bennett, diagnosed with mesothelioma in February, recalls the clouds of asbestos dust he and colleagues breathed in at building sites in the 1960s.

The 74-year-old said the dust was so bad that they set up the machine used to cut asbestos-cement decking boards according to the wind direction, but did not use breathing equipment.

He criticised ACC for taking months to process his claim and the level of compensation, $57 a week.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibre, once mined in Golden Bay in small quantities. It was used widely last century for purposes including insulation of boilers, as a fire retardant, to decorate house ceilings, in roofing materials and in asbestos-cement wallboards.

Imports of blue and brown asbestos were banned in 1984. The Occupational Safety and Health service says white asbestos, a less harmful fibre, is still used in vehicle brake and clutch linings.

OSH says asbestos should cause problems in homes only if it is crumbling or disturbed, such as by floor sanding after the removal of certain vinyl floor coverings, some of which had asbestos backings.

At least 13,000 people have reported workplace exposure to asbestos. Since 1992, 923 cases of asbestos-related disease have been reported to an OSH register, 30 per cent of them cancer, although many cases are thought to go unreported.

Ninety per cent of mesothelioma victims are men, most of them from the building trades.

Professor Kjellstrom, Dr Smartt, unions and victims' representatives are calling for OSH to report cases, particularly mesothelioma, automatically to ACC so the compensation process can be accelerated.

OSH has raised the suggestion with ACC, which is considering it.

Council of Trade Unions health and safety spokeswoman Hazel Armstrong yesterday blasted both organisations for what she said were years of inaction on the issue.

She said the aim in setting up the OSH asbestos disease register in 1992 was to make the process seamless for victims, but that had not happened.

A Wellington Medical School study of 68 people with asbestos-related diseases found that 52 per cent had not made an ACC claim, said Hazel Armstrong. And only half the claims were upheld.