A pop quiz: Does the “growing numbers of steelworkers” headline refer to former steelworkers in Pennsylvania, Ohio or both?
The correct answer is: Wales.
The April 3, 2015 article from Wales Online begins as follows:
“Large numbers of steelworkers are coming forward to make asbestos-related health claims connected with their work at a number of steelworks operated during the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, lawyers have said.A number of workers and their relatives from the former – now demolished – British Steel-owned plant in Port Talbot and the Llanwern steelworks are now coming forward after being diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases.
The claims are historic and are not in any way connected with the modern Port Talbot steel mill or the way the Llanwern mill in Newport (which opened in 1961) was run after the 1970s.
One law firm said in the past year it has seen a 40% increase in claims from steelworks in the area and is currently working on cases connected to the old Port Talbot plant and Llanwern as it was run in the 1960s and 1970s and warned that many more could surface.
A number of ex-workers from the 1960s and 1970s are believed to have died from the asbestos related cancer mesothelioma, which is linked with past exposure to asbestos dust.”