Another horrendously tragic stroy about the dangers of Asbestos, this time bought to us by thisisgloucestershire.co.uk. It yet again brings home to all of us just how important  Asbestos Abatement and Asbestos Management

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iAnother horrendously tragic stroy about the dangers of Asbestos, this time bought to us by thisisgloucestershire.co.uk. It yet again brings home to all of us just how important  Asbestos Abatement and Asbestos Management is. You can cantact Godiva Group 24 hours a day for a full Asbestos site survey.

‘A 50-YEAR-OLD woman died from lung cancer caused by asbestos despite never knowingly coming into contact with the deadly substance, an inquest heard.

Lavern Ponting had not worked in places where asbestos was used and neither had her husband Andrew, deputy coroner David Dooley was told.

Recording an open verdict, he apologised to her family for being unable to give them closure because of a lack of evidence.

After the inquest in Cheltenham, Mr Ponting said he had been knocking his head against a brick wall trying to find out what had happened.

He said: “A little man like me hasn’t got a chance against the establishment, but I have lost my wife at the age of only 50. That’s nothing these days is it?

“This type of cancer is going to escalate over the next 20 years with all the people who worked in plumbing and building back in the 60s and 70s.

“I have been in touch with a solicitor, but you have to have dates when she was exposed to asbestos and we have no idea when or how.

“I was hoping for some sort of closure coming here and I have not got it.”

Mrs Ponting, of Cotswold Avenue, Cirencester, died at home on May 7.

Since then, the financial administrator’s 25-year-old daughter Titania has raised £1,500 for cancer charities by taking part in a 10km run in London.

In evidence, Mr Ponting said his wife had gone to the doctor feeling unwell and with a persistent cough.

She was referred to the specialist oncology unit at Cheltenham General Hospital and was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma – a cancer of the lining of the lung which is almost always associated with asbestos.

He said he had worked in the building and concrete trades most of his life and she had washed his work clothes.

He had worked in dusty environments but he was never told there was asbestos present, he said. Similarly, he had not been able to find any cases where his wife might have come into contact with it.

Mr Dooley said that to give a verdict of death by industrial disease, he had to have evidence it was likely she had come into contact through her own or her husband’s employment.

He said: “Here, there is insufficient evidence since she never worked with asbestos or anywhere where she could have been exposed to it and this is also true of her husband.

“There is no evidence her husband’s dusty work clothes contained asbestos and it is known mesothelioma can occur with trivial exposure.

“The low reading of fibres in her lungs may have reflected normal environmental exposure in everyday life.”

Verdict: Open’