Rubber Industry Worker Dies of Mesothelioma

November 29, 2006 - A man who was employed for more than 40 years at a United Kingdom rubber factory has been pronounced dead from prolonged exposure to asbestos.  Mr. Arthur Horsfield, 78, of Lancashire, England was employed at the now-defunct Iddon Brothers Ltd. manufacturing firm, where lawyers say he was exposed "intermittently but for very heavy periods" during his years as a worker there.

Mr. Horsfield was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma earlier this year and succumbed to the disease in September.  Doctors report that two aggressive tumors had been found in his lungs and chest wall and that he had contracted bronchial pneumonia before he passed away.

The Lancashire Evening Post reports that a statement from Horsfield indicated that he remembered being exposed to "huge clouds of asbestos dust" during his time at the factory, caused by having to cut asbestos with a power saw, as well as the deteriorating of asbestos lagging on pipes, and working near ceilings sprayed with asbestos.

Horsfield’s daughter remembers her father speaking of his work with and around asbestos, which took place from the 1940s through the 1980s, and recalls her father coming home with asbestos on his clothing. 

A verdict of death by industrial disease, caused by exposure to asbestos, was recorded by the local coroner.