Maurice Blackburn

Lawyers report increase in home renovation asbestos cases

Lawyers representing mesothelioma victims have backed a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia today that pinpoints home renovations as the reason for a new wave of cases of the deadly cancer.

Theodora Ahilas, asbestos principal lawyer in New South Wales, said compensation law firm Maurice Blackburn had seen an increase in the number of people becoming sick after doing small and large scale home renovations and general maintenance around their home.

"We support the findings of this study and the editorial in the MJA today. Around half the people I act for have not worked directly with asbestos as part of their jobs," Ms Ahilas said.

"Many people believe it is workers that are most at risk, however, sadly from my experience others who have had this 'low-dose exposure' around the home have also become ill.

"For example, in 1970, one of my clients who was quite young at the time,  had no exposure to asbestos at the workplace but did hold up six sheets of asbestos while family members cut them. Recently in her 40s, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma.

"I have recently taken instructions from a 34-year-old man with pleural mesothelioma whose only possible exposure to asbestos occurred when he was about three years of age in a rented property where some asbestos cement fibro sheets were removed.

"A home makeover should make your dreams come true, not turn into a nightmare because you inhale asbestos fibres.

"Australia no longer manufactures asbestos and there is of awareness of hazards of the workplace, but many homes built between the 1940s and the 1980s still contain asbestos.

"The manufacturers of these products, owe a duty of care not only to people who build homes using their products but also to those who demolish or renovate a home containing their products."

Ms Ahilas said asbestos was a known carcinogen with no safe level of exposure and had a latency period of more than 15 years with 35 years being the average.

"Someone with an asbestos related disease has a right to compensation, wherever they contracted the illness," she said.

Safe Work Australia has also recently reported an increase in mesothelioma deaths with 551 in 2007. Between 2003 and 2007 the more populous states had the largest numbers: NSW (211) Victoria (137) and Queensland (116).