Fingers crossed as Westminster meeting proposes asbestos research centre

Reporter: Kirsty Rigg
Date online: 04/12/2008

Spodden Valley campaigners have their fingers crossed as Government bodies discuss the possibility of a National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases.

A meeting in Westminster is to commence today (Thursday 4 December) to talk about funding for the centre which, if successful, will be the first of its kind in the UK.

A number of Rochdale people have fallen prey to asbestos related diseases, namely mesothelioma, as a result of the Rochdale Turner Brothers Asbestos (TBA) site, which was once the largest asbestos factory in the world.

The site processed lethal asbestos dust for over 100 years, and the site remains withered at Spodden Valley, near Spotland, according to soil samples.

Spodden Valley campaigner Jason Addy told Rochdale Online: “This Westminster meeting is very important. It demonstrates a commitment to ensure the dangers of asbestos are taken seriously. To dismiss the damage caused by asbestos, and its threat to future generations, would be a woeful dereliction of duty.”

John Edwards, a medical expert who is leading the call for research and action, said: “This is the nation’s number one public health disaster, yet “the Silent Epidemic” (Jimmy Wray, MP, 1997), still sleeps.

“It is invariably fatal, with a median prognosis of six to nine months. It is resistant to current treatments such as surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy: even radical protocols do not offer a cure.

“Government –funded research for mesothelioma has been woefully inadequate.”