Breathing air containing asbestos dust can lead to asbestos-related diseases. These are mainly cancers of the chest and lungs, and they kill more people than any other single work-related cause.

Asbestos-related diseases already kill an estimated 3000 people each year in the UK. This number is expected to go on rising well into the next century. It may reach almost 10 000 deaths each year.

There is usually a long delay between first exposure to asbestos dust and the diagnosis of disease. This can vary between 15-60 years. The vast majority of people now dying were exposed to asbestos during the 1950s and 1960s when the use of asbestos in the UK was at its peak.

Many of today's asbestos victims worked in building trades. They were carpenters, joiners, shopfitters, plumbers, electricians etc. They were exposed to asbestos dust in their day-to-day work with asbestos materials or because work with asbestos was carried out near them.