MORE deaths potentially caused by asbestosis are to be investigated at inquest, The Evening Star can reveal today.There is currently one, possibly two cases, due to be heard soon, at Ipswich legal hearings to establish the cause of death of the people involved however asbestosis is expected to feature prominently.

MORE deaths potentially caused by asbestosis are to be investigated at inquest, The Evening Star can reveal today.

There is currently one, possibly two cases, due to be heard soon, at Ipswich legal hearings to establish the cause of death of the people involved however asbestosis is expected to feature prominently.

But the true scale of the silent killer across Suffolk is still unknown, as it may not show itself in Suffolk residents' bodies for years to come.

And the number of recent Suffolk deaths awaiting inquest to see if they were due to people breathing in asbestos fibres, is not readily available.

The number of suspected Ipswich cases were revealed by a coroners' office spokeswoman in Ipswich, but a spokesman for the Lowestoft office declined to comment at this time .

He said he had dealt with several asbestosis cases during the past year.

A spokesman for the Bury St Edmunds office said one inquest possibly due to asbestosis was pending, but added there had been several in recent months.

The Evening Star reported on Monday how Ipswich man James Marsh's life was claimed by the terrible illness, and his family's fight for compensation.

The news follows fears that the number of deaths from asbestosis is predicted to rise to 10,000 a year by 2020.

More than 3,000 people a year currently die of asbestos diseases in the UK.

But Dr Robin Howie, of the British Occupational Hygiene Society has warned that more than half-a-million people could die of asbestosis over the next 20 years.

He said hundreds of thousands of tons of asbestos currently in buildings needed to be removed.

Weblinks:

www.warnergoodman.co.uk/asbest

www.cheshire-med.com/programs/pulrehab/asbestosis