The widow of a welder from Dumbarton who died of asbestos-related most cancers mentioned she misplaced depend of different victims she met who knew they have been dying.
The declare got here as figures present West Dunbartonshire has one of many worst illness charges within the UK.
Worrying new figures from the Well being and Security Government present the area is second highest for males and fourth for ladies.
In addition they revealed a six p.c nationwide improve in mesothelioma deaths.
A complete of 295 males died in West Dunbartonshire because of the most cancers between 1981 and 2020.
The area has additionally seen 41 ladies lose their lives over the 40-year interval, with the figures exhibiting it's among the many worst affected within the UK, behind Barrow-in-Furness with 411 deaths.
Mesothelioma is a type of most cancers that takes a few years to develop following the inhalation of asbestos fibres however is often quickly deadly following symptom onset.
One of many 295 males who died was Clydeside welder William Baird, from Dumbarton, who misplaced his life in September 1996 after growing the most cancers.
His widow Joan continued to combat for justice for asbestos victims and her late husband as a devoted campaigner for Clydebank Asbestos Group.
The organisation helps those that have developed sicknesses because of office publicity to asbestos. Now 85, Joan has retired from the group however continues to be enthusiastic about these affected by asbestos getting justice.
She mentioned: “Asbestos points are very near my coronary heart.
“The brand new report is no surprise as a result of, in 1999, Clydebank and West Dunbartonshire was the European capital for asbestos-related ailments.
“The Clydebank Jubilee Hospital was constructed on the grounds of Turner Brothers’ Asbestos manufacturing facility. You had a large workforce inhaling asbestos. You have got a really excessive variety of circumstances on this space.
“I couldn’t depend the variety of males I've sat beside who knew they have been dying.
“It tears the guts out of you. It was a objective for me to assist out how I might as a result of I don’t like injustice.
“In in the present day’s political subject, you're seeing injustices on a regular basis, and it will get my goat as a result of we don’t know who's being trustworthy in the present day. Who can we belief?
“We're combating for a really troublesome world, however the combat for victims of asbestos will go on.”
Annual deaths within the UK elevated steeply over the past 50 years, with many deaths attributed to previous occupational asbestos exposures due to the widespread industrial use of the substance.
West Dunbartonshire MP Martin Docherty-Hughes mentioned the figures are a reminder of the “painful legacy” of the impression of asbestos on shipbuilding communities within the West of Scotland.
Earlier this 12 months, MPs referred to as for a 40-year deadline to take away all remaining asbestos from public and business buildings throughout the UK.
He mentioned: “Too many households in West Dunbartonshire and throughout Scotland have needed to undergo.
“Asbestos might have been banned within the UK since 1999, but it surely continues to be the reason for 1000's of deaths yearly throughout the nation.
“These newest figures are a reminder of the painful legacy of asbestos in shipbuilding communities like ours.
“Charges of mesothelioma in Clydebank and West Dunbartonshire are amongst the best on the earth and the main reason for work-related demise in Scotland.
“As Clydebank Asbestos Group (CAG) approaches its thirtieth anniversary, I’m grateful for the work they do to assist native households affected by asbestos-related ailments.
“I’ll proceed working with CAG and others in parliament to boost consciousness of the risks of asbestos.”
The report on ‘Mesothelioma Mortality in Nice Britain’ reveals there have been greater than 2,500 deaths from asbestos-related sickness in 2020 throughout the UK.