Lawyers are warning of a ‘ticking timebomb’ as workers exposed to carcinogenic chemicals from the 1950s to the 1970s develop potentially fatal cancers. Pauline Chandler from the law firm Pannone said “my fear is that workers in a number of industries, including; the chemicals sector, paint production, rubber manufacture and pigments and dyestuffs production, will develop cancers and be unaware that they are related to their past employment.” The Health and Safety Executive’s ‘conservative’ 2007 estimates indicate that over 500 people develop occupational bladder cancer each year, and around 250 people die of the work-related condition.
