Please write to your MP about Early Day Motion 93. This asks Cape Holdings PLC to make a £10 million donation towards mesothelioma research. If you wish, you can use the following template. Remember to tell your MP how you have been affected by an asbestos related disease.
Template for writing to your MP
Dear Insert the Name of your MP
I am writing to ask for your support for Early Day Motion 93.
More than 2,500 people in the UK die from mesothelioma each year. The only cause is exposure to asbestos. Although asbestos was banned in 1999 the number of new cases diagnosed each year remains stubbornly high. The number of people dying from mesothelioma actually increased slightly in the last year.
About 2,500 also die each year from asbestos related lung cancer, and about 2,500 from other asbestos related diseases.
I have been affected by asbestos because…
One of the main causes of this epidemic is products made by a firm called Cape. These were widely used in the 1960s and 70s. During this time Cape knowingly withheld information from the government about the hazards posed by these products. They also lobbied for safety measures to be watered down. The firm recently spent many millions of pounds trying to prevent the courts from releasing documents which proved they had done this. They lost the case and the documents are now available at https://asbestosforum.org.uk/cape-documents/.
The text of the Early Day Motion reads:
That this House notes the court case which resulted in Cape International Holdings, one of the world’s largest asbestos manufacturers, being forced to publish documentation revealing their cover up of the dangers of asbestos, and activity lobbying the Government to water down exposure limits and warnings; is concerned that Cape is a major contributor to the mesothelioma epidemic in the UK, where rates are the worst in the world, and must be held accountable for the many lives affected; and supports the call by the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum and the Trades Union Congress for Cape Holdings PLC to make a £10 million donation towards the funding of mesothelioma research.
I would appreciate it a great deal if you could add your signature. The list of Members who have already signed can be found at https://edm.parliament.uk/early-day-motion/59797/cape-holdings-and-asbestos-research.
Yours sincerely…