It might have been forgotten for some time, but the issue of asbestos related diseases and how the country is under increasing threat from the same has now come back with full force, and to ensure that more and more people know about the problem, Australia is celebrating this week as the National Asbestos Awareness Week, and it aims to, in addition to letting more and more people know about the issue, commemorate those people and lives which have been affected by asbestos-related illnesses.

WHO recently revealed that Australia and Britain have the highest rate of asbestos induced cancers in the world. In Australia alone, about 500 men and 100 women contract the cancer every year, and since the records began in the early 1980s, they have already recorded about 10,000 cases of its cases.

Medical authorities have estimated that by 2020, Australia will have about 13,000 cases of a common asbestos related disease, Mesothelioma, and a further 4,000 cases of cancer induced due to exposure to asbestos.

The Australian Government has announced that it is completely committed to combating with the growing problem. PM Kevin Rudd recently announced that the state would inject loans worth $320 Million with the NSW Government to contribute to the James Hardie asbestos victims, in addition to injecting $5 million to the new Bernie Banton Centre, the world’s first dedicated asbestos research institute.