A CAMPAIGN to ensure people are 'asbestos aware' has been backed by north Northumberland MP Alan Beith.
The senior Liberal Democrat has joined the British Lung Foundation and others at the House of Commons to raise awareness of the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.
To mark Action Mesothelioma Day, the British Lung Foundation is monitoring the p
rogress of the Mesothelioma Framework, an NHS action plan for people with the disease.
The charity carried out a survey of cancer networks in England and presented its findings to the National Cancer Director, Professor Mike Richards at the reception at Westminster.
Mr Beith signed an Early Day Motion calling for greater efforts to be made to improve treatment and care for people with mesothelioma after the survey showed that time and resources were major barriers to the full implementation of the Framework.
He said: "I am delighted to be supporting the British Lung Foundation's Action Mesothelioma Campaign, as it is helping to bring about real improvements for people with this cruel disease and continues to work for more research into the disease and more awareness about the dangers of asbestos.
"The British Lung Foundation's survey shows that there is a dangerously low level of awareness about the dangers of asbestos amongst the very people who are most at risk of mesothelioma."
Mesothelioma kills one person every five hours in the UK and there is as yet no cure.
It takes between 15 and 60 years after exposure to asbestos for the symptoms of mesothelioma to become apparent and the UK will face an epidemic of the cancer between 2011 and 2015 as people exposed to asbestos in the 1960s and 1970s are diagnosed with the disease.
