On a rare occasion HSE did revisit its occupational cancer estimates, it revised them down. It now says the ratio of asbestos related lung cancers to mesotheliomas may be lower than 1 to 1 – a 2005 HSE paper puts the ratio of asbestos lung cancers to mesotheliomas at between 2/3 and 1 to 1 – much lower than many other estimates. In 2009, the HSE authors had to admit they had got their mesothelioma risk estimates for chrysotile asbestos wrong – out by a factor of 10 – casting doubt on the validity of their work in this area. This was exposed by Hazards magazine.

Darnton, AJ, McElvenny, DM, Hodgson, JT. Estimating the number of asbestos related lung cancer deaths in Great Britain from 1980-2000, Annals of Occupational Hygiene, volume 50, issue 1, pages 29-38, January 2006.