Home renovators are the latest victims of Western Australia’s deadly asbestos legacy, new research has confirmed.
University of WA researchers have found that people exposed to asbestos while working on do-it-yourself projects are emerging as the “third wave” of asbestos-related cancer cases, after the miners and transport workers who dealt with the raw material and the tradespeople who used asbestos products.
“The third wave are the people who are being diagnosed now … They are the people who have had no occupational exposure but may say to us, ‘I enclosed the back verandah and we lined it with asbestos’, or ‘We built a new laundry using asbestos,” said lead researcher Nola Olsen.
The starkest figures concern women, with home renovation now the main cause of deadly malignant mesothelioma. The proportion of cases due to DIY has increased from about five per cent in the 1990s to nearly 36 per cent between 2005 and 2008.
“These women could have been wives or mothers who swept up after home renovation work or helped out with the work,” Mrs Olsen said.
Although occupational exposure to asbestos remained the biggest cause of mesothelioma among men, their DIY exposure rose from about three per cent to 8.4 per cent in the same period.
Mrs Olsen said that there was still little understanding of when, and at what level, the third wave would peak.
The study, published this week in the Medical Journal of Australia, is the first statistical confirmation of a trend that WA researchers have warned of for some time.
The researchers examined every case of mesothelioma diagnosed in WA between 1960 and 2008, using comprehensive data collected by the WA Mesothelioma Register.
The first case of mesothelioma associated with home maintenance and renovation was registered in 1981 and, since then, there has been a steady increase in both the number and incidence rates of DIY cases.
For both men and women, home renovators now constitute the largest proportion of all non-occupational cases.
Co-author Peter Franklin told ABC Radio’s Life Matters that although Australia had imposed a total ban on asbestos in 2003, many homes built between 30 and 60 years ago were still likely to contain it.
“We have speculated that because of the number of homes that have asbestos products and because of the interest people have in home renovation (that mesothelioma will rise),” Dr Franklin said.
Because of mesothelioma’s long latency period, the cases emerging today were a result of asbestos exposure in the 1960s and 1970s.
“When people did these things in the 1960s, less was known about the dangers so they may have been less inclined to take precautions.”
Although mesothelioma is still a relatively uncommon disease, the researchers reiterated that there is no safe level of exposure to the fibre. They predict that while cases of mesothelioma from job-related exposure will plateau, DIY-related cases will continue to rise.
In the same issue of the MJA, barrister John Gordon, a longtime advocate for mesothelioma victims, claimed that the two Australian asbestos suppliers, James Hardie and CSR, had a duty of care to warn home owners of the dangers of disturbing asbestos while renovating or repairing.
Cancer Council Australia estimates that one million Australian homes still contain asbestos. Terry Slevin, head of CCA’s environmental and occupational cancer risk committee, said the WA study indicated a national problem.
“Most people don’t know how to identify it (asbestos) – and if they do – they are unsure how to deal with it,” Mr Slevin said.
The MJA study can be found at
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/195_05_050911/gor10899_fm.html
The ABC Life Matters interview with Peter Franklin can be found at:
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/lifematters/stories/2011/3308882.htm
By Catherine Madden