Asbestos Problem Is Worsening Worldwide
NU Online News Service, Oct. 6, 10:59 a.m. EDT?Asbestos-related injury claims show no signs of abating in the U.S., Europe and Australia, and may in fact substantially increase, according to a new study.
Adrian Leonard, author of the report, Asbestos: The Relentless Peril, noted that "the asbestos issue is heating up at a frightening rate. Anyone who thinks the end of asbestos claims is within sight should think again."
Mr. Leonard is the former editor of the London-based World Insurance Report and the author of several other international insurance studies.
For the United States, Mr. Leonard sees asbestos loss reserves as indicative of a growing and previously underestimated problem. "The latest reserving actions by U.S. insurers suggest that their more recent actuarial analyses uncovered a problem significantly larger than is presently acknowledged."
In the U.K., "insurers are beginning to admit the need for increased [asbestos] reserves," Mr. Leonard pointed out. He added that, due to reinsurance unavailability, "today it is almost impossible for U.K. companies to buy any asbestos-related liability cover at all."
Other countries where asbestos troubles are expected to rise:
? Australia, which according to the report has the world's highest asbestos-related cancer rate, and where suits for environmental exposure to asbestos have succeeded.
? France, where legal decisions and a new compensation fund may work to the advantage of claimants with job-related asbestos injuries.
For more information on the report, contact David Bishop at the publisher, Informa UK Ltd., david.bishop@informa.com.
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