Worker in British asbestos company died of mesothelioma in 1936, internal documents reveal
Residents of the town of Rochdale in England are concerned about plans to build a housing development in their community on the site of the old Turner and Newall asbestos manufacturing facility. As part of their campaign to put a halt to the program, members of Save Spodden Valley have begun to publicize documents retrieved from the Turner and Newall archives. The documents date back to the 1890s and establish that the company knew early on about the risk to workers of developing asbestos-related cancer. In fact, the group has learned that as far back as the 1930s, the local paper reported several stories about asbestos worker cancer deaths. In particular, one worker, William Pennington, died in1936 from ‘endothelioma of the pleura.’ Mr. Pennington is believed to be the first of Turner and Newall’s workers to die from mesothelioma, an incurable cancer virtually unheard of outside the asbestos context.
For the full story, go to the Rochdale Observer.
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