Increase in mesothelioma cases prompts call for checks

The Asbestos Diseases Society is urging anyone who has lived in or visited the town of Wittenoom in Western Australia’s north-west to be checked by a doctor after an increase in the number of people being diagnosed with mesothelioma.

The society says nine people, mostly the children of those who worked in the town’s asbestos mine, have been diagnosed with the incurable mesothelioma disease since last October.

Society president Robert Vojakovic says the mine closed in 1966 but a lot of people in their 40s are only now discovering they have the disease because of its long latency period.

“Being the mid 60s or maybe early 60s and now 40 years hence you know will be one of the most dangerous periods in time of people developing disease,” he said.

The Health Department says it is aware that mesothelioma is being diagnosed in adults who lived in Wittenoom as children.

The department says it maintains a register to monitor cases of mesothelioma in the community.