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Cost of Asbestos-Related Deaths in Great Britain Projected to Double, Study Says

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

In the United Kingdom, more 2,000 people die a year of mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure. The numbers have been trending steeply upward since the 1960s, according to Great Britain’s Health and Safety Executive.

Asbestos-related disease exacts a steep cost in terms of lives lost, pain and suffering by Mesothelioma patients and their families and asbestos-related insurance costs. With more awareness and publicity about mesothelioma a greater proportion of asbestos-disease sufferers are filing claims against their employer after their diagnosis of cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen.

A new actuarial study doubles the projected asbestos-related insurance claims that the UK insurance industry will pay to about £11 billion ($17.8 billion) through 2050. The previous estimate of claims cost made in 2004 was £4.7 billion ($7.6 billion), but that only covered the period to 2040. The increase in the insurance market estimate was driven primarily by a near doubling of the observed number of mesothelioma claims since 2004.

The study was compiled by the UK Asbestos Working Party, part of Actuarial Professional, an organization representing the actuary industry.

The number of insurance claims has been increasing faster than the rate of mesothelioma deaths in Britain, the report said. In the past, about one-third of asbestos-related deaths resulted in insurance claims, but now nearly two-thirds of asbestos victims make claims. Still, there is uncertainty about the number of people who will be diagnosed with mesothelioma in future decades, making the projections less reliable in the outlying years.

The study noted that mesothelioma claims accounted for more than 90 percent of the United Kingdom’s asbestos-related claims cost.

The wide use of asbestos and its danger to human health have had and will continue to have profound consequences.

Link to UK Asbestos Working Party Actuarial Study

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Labels: Asbestos, International News, Mesothelioma

posted by Wade Rawlins at 3:49 PM
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