Action Mesothelioma Day

Exposed asbestos in the Spodden Valley

Local MPs Simon Danczuk and Jim Dobbin will be amongst MPs speaking at an Action Mesothelioma Day event on Friday 4 July.

Doves will be released in Albert Square, Manchester, in memory of all those who have died from mesothelioma, a fatal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Families bereaved by mesothelioma will call on the Government to increase funding for research.

Rochdale was once home to the largest asbestos factory in the world and the continued risk of cancer from asbestos contamination at the former Turner Brothers site in Spodden Valley remains a major concern for local residents.

At a public meeting in the Town Hall after the dove release Lord Alton, who worked so hard alongside the late Paul Goggins MP on behalf of mesothelioma victims, will talk about the campaign to commit the Government to increase research funding for mesothelioma.

Graham Dring GMAVSG co-ordinator says: “New cases of mesothelioma in Greater Manchester are increasing year on year. It is vital that the Government commits research funding to give some hope to sufferers, most of whom contracted this disease simply by going to work ”

130 people were diagnosed with mesothelioma in Greater Manchester in 2013. It is one of the 20 top causes of cancer death but attracts the least funding of all these cancers. The prognosis for mesothelioma sufferers is no better today than 10 years ago – there is no cure.