A form of lung cancer whose only known cause is asbestos exposure

The family of a mum-of-five who died because she washed her husband's asbestos covered overalls are calling for a change in the law so that deaths like hers can be classed as "industrial".

Maureen Gardiner's family spoke out after an inquest in Gloucester recorded a verdict of accidental death on the 76-year-old. Workers who suffer the terminal lung cancer mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos are classed as victims of industrial disease – with compensation payable to their families.

But, as Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore explained, people in Mrs Gardiner's position who contract the disease from exposure to their husband's asbestos contaminated clothes are not deemed to have died from an industrial disease because they were not working with the deadly mineral themselves.

Mrs Gardiner's son Alan said after the inquest: "I feel very strongly that this is wrong and that the verdict in cases like mum's should be industrial disease."It was as a direct result of dad working with asbestos that she died so the verdict should be the same so that compensation is automatic instead of having to be fought for in the courts."

He said Mrs Gardiner's family are, however, taking legal advice with a view to making a compensation claim.Mrs Gardiner, of Frithwood Park, Brownshill, near Stroud, died on Christmas Day last year in the Sue Ryder hospice at Leckhampton, Cheltenham.

Her husband, Gerald, said in a statement to the inquest that he had worked for Fibrecrete at Chalford, near Stroud, from 1955 to 1967 and would go home with his clothing covered in asbestos dust.

"I used to sort asbestos fibre and mix it before crushing," he stated. "It used to get everywhere.

"My wife would have come into contact with asbestos when she was washing my clothes. She used to keep it separate from the rest of the family clothing because it was so dusty."She would shake it before, during and after washing."

Mrs Gardiner was diagnosed with mesothelioma – a form of lung cancer whose only known cause is asbestos exposure – in October 2006.She was transferred from hospital to the Sue Ryder home on December 21 last year and died in the early hours of Christmas Day.

The inquest heard that there was no likelihood of Mrs Gardiner having come into contact with asbestos in her own working life with a ring binder firm, in the Aston Down airfield canteen and as an embroiderer.

Pathologist Dr Richard Bryan confirmed that at post mortem he found she had a malignant mesothelioma. Her lungs were found to contain 195,840 fibres of asbestos per gram of dry tissue – a high and "significant" reading.

The coroner said he was "absolutely sure" that Mrs Gardiner's shaking of her husband's clothes to get rid of the asbestos dust was what caused her to develop the disease. "But industrial disease can only be the verdict if it has arisen during and because of the employment of the deceased," he said. "In this case she undoubtedly contracted what is an industrial disease but the cause of that was her husband's employment and not hers."

Meanwhile, county solicitor Peter Lodge has warned of an explosion in asbestos related diseases in Gloucestershire.

Mr Lodge, an industrial disease claims specialist at BPE solicitors in Cheltenham, said he is dealing with hundreds of clients who were exposed to the substance in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

Resulting diseases can take decades to develop and this has led to an emerging epidemic of terminally ill pensioners.Numbers affected are growing rapidly and are expected to peak in 2020.

Official figures released this week by the HSE show that during the past 20 years almost 200 tradesmen in Gloucestershire died from asbestos-related diseases.

Asbestos has been the main cause of occupational ill health from about 1950 onwards and is still the greatest single work related cause of death from ill health.Past exposure to asbestos is now responsible for about 4000 people dying from asbestos related cancers every year.

This figure is expected to rise over the next ten years and then decline.

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Daren Kyle: asbestos contaminated , asbestos, asbestos-related diseases.

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