Adverts warning of danger of asbestos banned
Adverts warning of danger of asbestos banned
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By Richard James. |  |
Wednesday, 23, Sep 2009 12:10
By Richard James.
A series of radio adverts aimed at warning of the dangers of asbestos exposure to tradesmen have been banned.
The adverts from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) included the line: "Every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents", sparking a series of complaints.
The Asbestos Watchdog challenged the ads claiming they were misleading and said they exaggerated the likelihood of tradesmen contracting an asbestos-related disease.
The HSE in response said the figures were calculated by counting the number of male and female death certificates that quoted mesothelioma (a form of cancer where the main cause is recognised as being inhalation of asbestos fibres) as the cause of death in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and then estimating and adding on the number of male and female deaths caused by lung cancer attributable to asbestos exposure.
The executive explained that, because lung cancer deaths caused by asbestos were clinically indistinguishable from those caused by other factors, such as tobacco, the number of those deaths had to be estimated.
They therefore commissioned research to calculate those estimates which showed a ratio of one asbestos-related lung cancer death to every mesothelioma death for the period 1980 to 2000.
HSE added that a number of people died from other asbestos-related, non-cancerous diseases every year, such as asbestosis which killed 111 people in 2006.
Using these figures and the ratio of 1:1, the HSE said it was able to conclude that around 4,000 people died from asbestos-related cancer every year between 2004 and 2006.
The executive then compared those figures to figures published by the Department for Transport which showed there were approximately 3200 road deaths every year between 2004 and 2006.
All the research finally resulted in the adverts arriving at the claim that: "Every year there are more people killed by asbestos than in road accidents".
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), however, decided to uphold the complaints due to the fact the figures had in fact been based on estimations.
"We concluded that the ads could mislead by presenting as definitive figures which were, in part, based on estimates," a statement from the watchdog said.
The ASA therefore ruled that the adverts must not appear in there current form.