Leigh Carlisle, who pioneered treatment for the deadly asbestos-related disease mesothelioma, has died aged 28. It was believed that Leigh was the youngest sufferer of the disease in the country.
Her doctors and lawyers never established how she was exposed to asbestos or how she began to show symptoms of the disease at such a young age. The affects of the cancer usually take more than 20 years to reveal themselves after exposure.
It is thought possible that Leigh was affected at her school in Oldham and lawyers have placed a Freedom of Information request with Oldham council to try and determine whether asbestos may have been present in her classrooms.
200 school workers have died or are dying following the widespread use of asbestos in schools throughout the country in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Rochdale asbestos company Turner & Newall were among the leading companies to push for schools to continue using asbestos in schools during the 1960s despite the concerns of the Department of Education and Science over the health risks.
The power of what was once the world's largest asbestos factory was no more evident than in 1967. The company wrote a joint letter with Cape Asbestos to the Department telling them that a memorandum it had issued to local authorities to "reduce the use of all forms of asbestos by finding a substitute wherever possible", should be put into the context of the use of asbestos by students in laboratories and that 'reducing all forms of use' would have "enormous economic consequences".
The Department relented and defined the scope of the memorandum to that which was suggested by the asbestos firms.
Reporter: Jan Harwood
Date online: 29/08/2008
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