Asbestos-Related Diseases Increasing Annually in Australia

Asbestos diseases rise in Australia

Australia is preparing itself for the number of deaths from asbestos-related diseases to increase exponentially over the next decade.

In the past two years many hospitals have seen the number of patient’s suffering from mesothelioma double. In courts, asbestos-related claims account for almost a quarters of common law cases. To deal with the increasing number of court cases, 800 are predicted to be filed this year, the Supreme Court is fast-tracking asbestos litigation because many diagnosed will not live to see the outcome of their claim.

Professor Bruce Robinson from the National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases predicts the number of new patients will continue to rise for another five to ten years. At the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre the doctors such as oncologist Dr. Ben Solomon were treating only four mesothelioma cases two years ago. Currently, there are more then ten patients suffering from the disease, in part due to better treatment with the drug Alimta.

Exposure to asbestos can cause a number of diseases including asbestosis and mesothelioma, an often fatal cancer. The disease is caused when airborne asbestos fibers are inhaled and lodged into the soft tissue of the lungs.

Australia was one of the largest importers and users of asbestos in the 1970s. Because of the long latency period for the diagnosis of asbestos-related diseases, the peak diagnose year is expected in 2020. Peter Gordon, a lawyer whose firm handles 80 percent of asbestos cases, considers the effects of asbestos exposure the country’s “worst industrial disaster in terms of people killed. It has no rival.”