Setback for pleural plaques victims

摘要

JUSTICE secretary Jack Straw has announced that the government will not overturn the House of Lords' decision that sufferers of pleural plaques should not be eligible for compensation. At the same time, Straw announced measures to increase compensation payments for some people who develop mesothelioma, the lung cancer associated with asbestos exposure. The announcement upholds the law lords' 2007 decision that since pleural plaques — a scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure, which is often a precursor of asbestosis or mesothelioma — has no serious symptoms, it does not justify compensation. An exceptional payment of 5000 pounds will be made to an estimated 6000 people who lodged claims before 2007.