Coroner's warning after asbestos death

11:09am Friday 8th June 2007

Comments (0)   Have your say »

A CORONER has warned of the dangers of modern chemicals after a pensioner died of asbestos poisoning, 40 years after being in contact with the chemical at a Bradford on Avon company.

Former wages manager Anita Ford, 70, of Barr's Lane, Charmouth, died on January 16 at Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester as a result of malignant mesothelioma.

The inquest was told that Mrs Ford came into contact with asbestos powder - the dangerous form of the chemical, 40 years before when she worked for Avon Rubber plc in Bradford on Avon, which was originally called Spencer Moultons, then Avon Industrial Polymers Ltd.

West Dorset Coroner Michael Johnston said it was a rare type of cancer that in 85 per cent or more cases is caused by exposure to asbestos.

He said: "Asbestos was regarded as a wonderful material and it is, but it carries these dangers. What worries me is what we're using now which no one's discovered yet.

"I'm a keen gardener and use sprays and I read the other day that spray chemicals can increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease.

"There's all this chemical stuff in supermarkets, is it any wonder kids are getting asthma?"

Mr Johnston said she was taken into hospital on January 13 after becoming dangerously short of breath and died three days later. Consultant pathologist, Mark Deverell, in a written statement, said the cause of death was a massive blood clot in her lung due to the cancer.

Her husband Derek Thomas Quade Ford also worked for Avon Rubber on the factory floor, as did her parents and their son John and the inquest was told Mrs Ford may also have come into contact with asbestos washing their clothes.

Mr Ford said the factory had since been demolished and he was told that 80 tonnes of asbestos was removed from the factory in pulling it down.

Mr Johnston recorded a verdict of death as a result of industrial disease.