A Gisborne woman, who has been fighting mesothelioma for more than a decade, believes home renovators shouldn’t have to pay to have asbestos professionally removed and disposed.
Under current laws, people who find the deadly building material in their homes face expensive removal and disposal costs.
Lou Williams, despite her own ill health, has spent many years fighting on behalf of others battling lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure. She says disposal costs should be heavily subsidised. ‘‘Until that happens, we will have more and more people exposed, including their families,’’ Mrs Williams said. In 1985, her father, who worked in the building industry, was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma. He died six months later, aged 54.
In 2003, Mrs Williams, then 47, was diagnosed with peritoneal mesothelioma. In 2009, it became pleural mesothelioma. Large tumors were removed and she underwent chemotherapy before starting on a new drug early last year.
While asbestos was completely outlawed in 2003, Mrs Williams said it continued to wreak a devastating toll.
And those most at risk were the growing army of do-it-yourself renovators, she added. ‘‘All it takes is one speck.’’
The Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia said repairs and renovations could release millions of fibres.
