Anniversary of national event to commemorate victims of asbestos cancer

Action Mesothelioma Day rally

Campaigners will be rallying in Lincoln Square, off Brazennose Street in central Manchester at 12.30 pm on Friday 1 July in memory of all those who have lost their lives to the asbestos cancer, mesothelioma.

Local MPs will address the Action Mesothelioma Day rally and doves will be released to commemorate the thousands of people who have already died from this disease in the biggest long-term industrial catastrophe in this country’s history.

Following the rally, at 1.00 pm, a public meeting will hear from Trevor Barlow, a man living with this illness, and Dr Paul Taylor from Wythenshawe Hospital, about why we need a national strategy to find a cure for mesothelioma.

In March 2016 the Government announced a grant of £5 million as seed money to set up a National Mesothelioma Centre of Excellence. This is more money than mesothelioma research has received in a very long time. Campaigners believe this is a welcome, although overdue, recognition of the need to tackle a disease that has seen more than 2,500 new diagnoses over each of the last two years, and which sees a similar number lose their lives each year to this incurable cancer.

Mesothelioma has received a lot of national and local coverage recently. A police officer and a security guard lost their lives to the disease following separate IRA bombs in the Manchester Arndale Centre in 1996 and at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton in 1984. These incidents highlight the dangers posed by buildings, including schools and other public buildings, that still contain asbestos.

Graham Dring, of Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group, said: “The announcement of £5 million for a National Mesothelioma Centre of Excellence is good news.

"Mesothelioma has been the poor relation when it comes to research funding for far too long. This initiative offers the chance to co-ordinate research work and offer hope to all those living with the disease now, and those inevitably to come.

"The Government described this as 'seed money' and it is crucial that this jump starts Government action to ensure not only more money for mesothelioma research, but sustained funding for the future so that real progress can be made in the search for a cure.”