Children of the 60s played with asbestos, are beginning to suffer now

Back in January the BBC covered the story of Caroline Wilcock, and her unfortunate situation is worth bringing up again because it is so close to something we are passionate about: ridding the UK of asbestos safely.

Caroline grew up in the 1960s living in the County Durham village of Bowburn. That was also where a factory was hard at work producing asbestos goods. Nobody wore protective clothing, the doors of the factory were always open, and a white dust was always settling on everything in the village. Worse still, the children used to play with the asbestos like it was chalk.

Caroline is now 51 and has been diagnosed with mesothelioma. The parent company of the asbestos factory, Cape Intermediate Holdings, isn't accepting responsibility for her illness, but has made her an offer for an out of court settlement. She's the first villager known about to have contracted mesothelioma, but her lawyers believes there may be many more misdiagnosed, still yet to find out they have cancer, or who have already privately settled with Cape.

You can read Caroline's full story over at BBC News Tyne & Wear