How asbestos exposure continues to be a dire health risk – 25 years after it was banned

Asbestos exposure can have an insidious effect on health. It can take decades for symptoms to become noticeable but, once diagnosed, most patients die within two years. According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety, more than 5,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases each year, making asbestos the leading cause of work-related deaths in the UK.