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PM Promises Pleural Plaque Action

Gordon Brown has promised action within weeks to help asbestos victims. At Prime Minister's question time, he signalled compensation is on the way for people suffering from pleural plaques.

He is expected to overturn a ban imposed by peers on victims being able to claim, with a statement expected from justice secretary Jack Straw after the easter break.

Labour MP Stephen Hepburn raised the issue with Mr Brown. He said: "The Prime Minister knows that many unfortunate people in this country have been negligently poisoned in the workplace through exposure to asbestos. Every time that their right to compensation has been challenged in the courts by employers, it has been this Labour government who have stood by them and helped them. What does he intend to do about the thousands of predominantly working-class pleural plaques sufferers who have been robbed of their compensation by unjust decisions in the law courts?"

Mr Brown responded: "It is right that we look again at this as a result of legal actions that have been taken about the obligations of insurance companies. The Justice Secretary will make a statement on this when we return after easter."

An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) expert working group last week indicated that as well as causing lung cancer and mesothelioma, asbestos should also be recognised as a cause laryngeal cancer and ovarian cancer.

Source: TUC Risks



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