As I write this blog, I become increasingly aware of the problem of second-hand exposure to asbestos. For instance, I recently wrote about the l lady who became ill as a result of washing her husband's asbestos contaminated clothing.
I thought that this was a fairly new phenomenon but, having just scraped the top of the research mountain, I find that as long ago as 1966 it was demonstrated that more than 50% of the cases of mesothelioma in women were as a result of household exposure to someone who worked directly with asbestos. I'll see if I can dig out details of the study for later on this week.

Living with an asbestos worker is not the only way of contracting the disease, however, there are various risks within the community - the story of the now-defunct W.R. Grace vermiculite mine is well known.

So, in view of the foregoing, I thought this week we'd take a more in-depth look at secondary exposure - the risks, the various ways you can protect yourself, and some well-known cases.

We'll start tomorrow by looking at the W R Grace story.