h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Doh! Well I'm here and not sure where that is but mindful of the dictum, wherever you go there you are I suppose I'll carry on and whinge. The media is full of asbestos compensation scare stories.
Basically, if you suffer from an asbestos related disease(ARD) to get compensation you will have to name that fibre. No, not chrysotile,crocidolite,tremolite or amosite, we're looking for ownership here. Which company employed you or exposed you to the "pernicious effects of the evil asbestos dust",the when, where and how of exposure.Did you check the air you breathed today?
Do you work, live or frequent a building built pre 1980? Do any DIY?
Car maintenance? Knocked down an old shed or lockup? Live in Glasgow, Clydebank, Tyneside, Teeside, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, London or any other site of large scale asbestos manufacture and use.
Did you know your average lung burden of asbestos per dried gram of lung tissue is 1,000,000 fibres. No thought not. It's the sort of thing that's only discovered on autopsy and even then only if they happen to be looking.
They'll be doing a lot more looking in years to come, and signing a lot more death certificates with primary cause of death cited as asbestos exposure. But only if you worked in an industry where exposure is proven. So sorry to the women who were infected by contact with their husband's work clothes; no luck if your random bit of DIY hit some asbestos fibreboard, hard cheese if you -passed a demolition site that just knocked down an asbestos ridden building with no regulation from the HSE(HelpSaveEmployers)Shit I've run out of space. I'll be back