Campaign launched to overturn Law Lords ruling (From The Northern Echo)

Campaign launched to overturn Law Lords ruling

5:03pm Monday 17th March 2008 in

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MPs and union activists have today launched a campaign in the North-East aimed at overturning the Law Lords decision to halt compensation for victims of a condition related to asbestos contamination.

Members of Parliament Stephen Hepburn and Dave Anderson joined forces with UCATT's Northern regional secretary, John Scott in a bid to secure justice for the country's pleural plaques sufferers.

Pleural plaques is scarring of the lungs caused by heavy and long term exposure to asbestos.

Victims have a greatly increased risk of contracting mesothelioma a fatal lung cancer.

The region was chosen as the launch location for the UCATT campaign as the North-East has one of the highest levels of asbestos victims in England.

One in seven people diagnosed with pleural plaques, which can have both debilitating mental and physical symptoms, will develop mesothelioma which is predicted to peak in 2020 with 10,000 people dying from the disease.

But in October of last year the Law Lords ruled that pleural plaques would no longer be a compensatable illness, a move which is estimated to save insurance companies more than £1 billion in compensation payments.

Speaking from the Law Courts on Newcastle Quayside, Mr Scott said: "The Law Lords decision was outrageous and is a total injustice. I, like thousands of other workers have been needlessly exposed to asbestos. Employers cannot get away with playing fast and loose with workers lives.''