UK Woman Died After Washing Her Husband’s Clothes -- MesoLink.org -- 07-17-06

An inquest in the UK has heard how a woman from the UK died after spending years washing her husband’s work clothes, which contained fibers of the deadly substance asbestos, which is a known carcinogenic and can cause a variety of other major health problems.

Marjorie Fox, 61 years of age, had been washing her husband’s clothes for around two decades. The inquest heard how Fox used to shake out the deadly dust from the overalls of her husband, Kenneth. Twenty years later she discovered she had contracted the deadly asbestos related cancer, mesothelioma.

The woman from York became concerned because she was always out of breath, and when she sought medical assistance from her doctor she was found to have contracted mesothelioma, a cancer for which there is yet no cure, and a disease that dramatically reduces the lifespan.

A verdict of accidental death was recorded in her case, and her family received compensation from the firm for which Mr. Fox used to work during the 1960s and 1970s, where he picked up the asbestos fibers and dust in his work clothes.