1.7Why it took 20 to 60 years to appear

Mesothelioma is the slowest cancer most people will ever hear of. From the day someone first breathes in an asbestos fibre to the day a tumour is visible on a scan, the typical gap is 20 to 60 years. Cases under 15 years are uncommon. Cases under 10 years are rare.

That gap matters in three ways.

First, it changes what ‘cause’ means. You won’t have a single dramatic exposure to blame. Most patients had hundreds or thousands of low-dose exposures over a working life. A solicitor’s job, later, is to map those years.

Second, it changes what you remember. The legal interview will ask about jobs you held in 1976 and the names of foremen who are now dead. That’s normal. Old photos, payslips, union records and family memories help.

Third, the latency is why we know what’s coming. Even though new asbestos use stopped in 1999, the people exposed in the 1970s and 80s are still being diagnosed. The UK death rate is expected to remain at thousands a year well into the 2030s and probably the 2040s before it begins to fall. You are not at the end of the wave. You are in it.

None of this is your fault.