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Asbestos: a bloody anniversary
Twenty years ago this month the use of asbestos was banned in Britain — but still thousands die every year from contact with the deadly mineral, writes LAURIE KAZAN-ALLEN

AUGUST 24, 2019 marked the 20th anniversary of the British ban on asbestos, a substance which remains the cause of the country’s worst-ever occupational epidemic, killing thousands every year.

The Asbestos Prohibitions regulations signed by deputy prime minister John Prescott were implemented against a backdrop of a landmark World Trade Organisation dispute over a French asbestos ban and aggressive lobbying by British and international vested interests.

Legislation was laid before Parliament a month after the European Union had adopted similar legislation and during the dog days of the summer parliamentary recess.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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