SA'S
ASBESTOS SHAME
UNIONS FEAR
MORE MESOTHELIOMA IF SAFETY UNDERMINED
28 October 2005
SA Unions fears a future blowout in
asbestos related diseases due to the federal governments push to
undermine unions and their role as safety watchdogs.
That will be one of the topics of
discussion at an Asbestos Forum in Adelaide today (Friday 28
October) which will also hear from nationally respected research
Professor Doug Henderson of Flinders University, and see the launch
of the SA Asbestos Coalition.
The Coalition, comprising unions,
researchers, medical experts, asbestos victims associations,
Workplace Scervices, WorkCover, and asbestos removal companies will
coordinate efforts to increase public awareness about the danger of
asbestos, achieve better protection and facilitate compensation
claims.
SA Unions Secretary, Janet Giles says
unions have led the way in exposing the horrible legacy of asbestos
and ensuring tight safety standards for its handling and disposal.
"We blew the whistle on James Hardie,
we defended workers in the mines, we stood up for those in the
construction, manufacturing and trades who were required to work
with this deadly product, often without protection."
"We launched a massive fight against
James Hardie to secure proper compensation of victims. It is
just one reason why we need strong unions."
"But the fight isn't over.
Thousands of homes and commercial buildings still contain asbestos,
even though its use is now banned." (Blue asbestos was banned
in 1966, Brown asbestos was banned in 1980, while less dangerous
white asbestos was banned at the end of 2003).
"Unions are concerned to ensure that
stringent safety standards continue to be applied to protect workers
and the wider community from future asbestos exposure."
"The federal government's work rights
attach, which seeks to strangle unions and limit their access to
work sites raises the spectre of a rise in asbestos-related diseases
two, three or four decades from now."
"If unions are prevented from
monitoring and protecting the safety standards of workers, we fear
there will be a renewed surge in victims.
"South Australia is already on the
verge of taking a dubious national lead by having the highest per
capita incidence of mesothelioma in Australia.
"Between 1980 and 2002, our state had
690 reported cases of mesothelioma. Another 1272 are
calculated to occur by 2020. It means that 1 in every 2173
South Australians has this awful disease and that figure is rising."
"Only Western Australia is worse, with
1 in every 1979 citizens with the disease."
"However, as the WA victims tragically
die, SA is overtaking it as the state with the worst instance of
mesothelioma in the nation."
"For every mesothelioma sufferer, there
are on average 2 people who develop asbestos related lung cancer."
SA Unions Public Forum featuring
Professor Doug Henderson and Janet Giles, will be held at the
Adelaide Festival Centre Banquet Room from 10 am on Friday 28
October, including SA Asbestos Coalition launch at 12 noon.
MESOTHELIOMA RATES
Since 1980 Australia has maintained a
national register of reported incidents of mesothelioma. The
table below shows the number of mesothelioma cases recorded by the
Australian Mesothelioma Register for each Australian state from 1980
to the most recently available figures for 2001.
Number of reported cases of
mesothelioma 1980 to 20011
| State |
NSW |
VIC |
QLD |
WA |
SA |
TAS |
NT |
ACT |
TOTAL |
| Notifications |
2,365 |
1,200 |
983 |
965 |
690 |
99 |
5 |
42 |
6,349 |
| National % |
37.2% |
18.9% |
15.2% |
15.5% |
10.9% |
1.6% |
0.15 |
0.7% |
100% |
| Pop (millions) |
6.60 |
4.83 |
3.66 |
1.91 |
1.51 |
.472 |
.197 |
.320 |
|
| Per capita occurrence |
1 in 2790 |
1 in 4025 |
1 in 3723 |
1 in 1979 |
1 in 2173 |
1 in 4767 |
1 in 394000 |
1 in 7619 |
|
Based on the figures above and an
expected total number of Australian mesothelioma cases of 18,000 by
2020 the table below predicts the number of future mesothelioma
cases which are likely in each Australian state. According to
Professor Doug Henderson from Flinders University, the national
number of cases is presently about 9000, so Australia is barely
halfway there. The SA figure is expected to almost triple from
690 in 2001 to 1,962 by 2020.
Number of reported cases of
mesothelioma 1980 to 20011
| State |
NSW |
VIC |
QLD |
WA |
SA |
TAS |
NT |
ACT |
TOTAL |
| Expected Future Incidents |
4,331 |
2,202 |
1,807 |
1,771 |
1,272 |
189 |
13 |
84 |
11,669 |
| Total Expected Incidents by 2020 |
6,696 |
3,402 |
2,790 |
2,736 |
1,962 |
288 |
18 |
126 |
18,018 |