ABOUT Sarah McOnie and Linda Reinstein: “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know!”

Press Release Courtesy of The McOnie Agency

For Immediate Release: March 20, 2015

Hear Asbestos. Think Prevention.™

The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) Announces
“Global Asbestos Awareness Week” April 1-7, 2015 

ADAO Press Release

Washington DC, USA — March 17, 2015 — The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), which combines education, advocacy, and community to help ensure justice for asbestos victims, today announced Global Asbestos Awareness Week April 1-17, 2015.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure but it has been used widely as a construction and fireproofing material since the end of the 19th century.  If a worker or a member of their family is exposed to asbestos they are at increased risk of developing asbestos related lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis. These conditions don’t care who they affect, limit life and cause an agonising death.

Global Asbestos Awareness Week from 1st to 7th April 2015 is designed to raise awareness of the dangers of asbestos, encourage countries still using it to ban it and help workers who could be exposed to it receive the correct protection.
GAAWThe World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 125 million people across the world are exposed to asbestos in the workplace and 107,000 people die each year as a result

[1]. With greater awareness and a true sense of responsibility these exposure levels and deaths can be prevented.

The awareness week focuses on three critical things:

  1. To ban the mining and use of asbestos in countries where it is still legal
  2. To prevent asbestos exposure in homes and workplaces
  3. To increase workers’ safety who could be exposed by reinforcing existing laws and regulations, and ensure they wear the correct protective equipment and decontaminate effectively to prevent exposure

Each day the awareness week will focus on cutting edge information and the best education resources, profile leading organisations raising awareness that include the World Health Organisation, feature videos and music and share ‘real life’ stories of those who have succumbed to this terrible disease or those who have lost loved ones.  The week culminates on 7th April with an online candlelit vigil.  Everyone can get involved and follow the week via the website and through social media.

ADAO President and Co-founder, Linda Reinstein, launched ADAO in 2004 when her beloved husband Alan was diagnosed with  mesothelioma; he subsequently lost his courageous battle in 2006. ADAO has worked globally since its inception to  raise awareness of the dangers and effects of asbestos, helping to influence the first Asbestos Awareness Week in 2004, which has subsequently continued each year thereafter. Ms. Reinstein passionately states, “We cannot continue the fight to reduce the exposures and deaths alone and so I urge everyone to get involved, be bold and be outspoken! Only this way can we achieve a worldwide ban and prevent unnecessary deaths.”

View the McOnie Agency Press Release

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About the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) was founded by asbestos victims and their families in 2004. ADAO is the largest non-profit in the U.S. dedicated to providing asbestos victims and concerned citizens with a united voice through our education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO seeks to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure, advocate for an asbestos ban, and protect asbestos victims’ civil rights.  For more information, visit www.asbestosdiseaseawareness.org.

 

 
Media Contact:
Sarah McOnie or Mary Fitzgerald
The McOnie Agency
+44 (0) 1483 414 751
sarah@mconieagency.com
maryd@mconieagency.com

 

[1] The World Health Organisation

Notes to editors:

Asbestos – the facts:

  • Asbestos is a known human carcinogen and there is no safe level of exposure
  • Only 55 countries have banned asbestos
  • The top 4 producers reported by USGS in 2014 are: Russia, China, Brazil and Kazakhstan
  • More than 107,000 people die each year from asbestos related diseases
  • While promising research continues, prevention remains the only cure for mesothelioma and other asbestos caused diseases.

History of Asbestos use across the world:

  • Asbestos mining began on a large-scale at the end of the 19th century when manufacturers and builders used it because of its desirable physical properties: sound absorption, average tensile strength, its resistance to fire, heat, electrical and chemical damage and affordability.
  • By the beginning of the 20th century concerns of ill health from exposure to asbestos were beginning to be raised, which escalated in severity during the 1920s and 1930s.
  • By the 1980s and 1990s asbestos trade and use started to become banned outright, phased out, or heavily restricted in an increasing number of countries.
  • By the 1980s and 1990s asbestos trade and use started to become banned outright, phased out, or heavily restricted in an increasing number of countries.

The European Union, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Australia have introduced an outright ban
on asbestos whilst Japan and New Zealand have banned the use of asbestos in new construction builds. The
USA, India, Indonesia, China, Russia and Brazil have continued widespread use of asbestos.