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Asbestos safety advert banned
The Advertising Standards Authority has banned a series of radio adverts aimed at raising awareness of asbestos among building workers and contractors.
The Health and Safety Executive’s campaign for "Asbestos: The Hidden Killer" claimed that every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents.
But a complainant claimed the HSE ads exaggerated the danger to modern-day workers since most of the deaths had been due to exposure a long time ago from more dangerous types of asbestos that have since been banned.
The HSE said it based its assertion partially on the number of death certificates that quoted mesothelioma (a form of cancer where the main cause is recognised as being inhalation of asbestos fibres) and partially on estimates of asbestos-related lung cancer.
The HSE estimated that around 4,000 people in total died each year between 2004 and 2006.
The Advertising Standards Authority concluded that "the ads could mislead by presenting as definitive figures which were, in part, based on estimates" and were therefore misleading.
It then ordered the HSE not to broadcast the adverts again.
Kershaw Contracting Services has decades of experience doing asbestos removal.
