Asbestos Forces Young Family from Their 'Mr. Fluffy Home'

On a sunny afternoon in the Australian capital city of Canberra, Katie Williams and Daniel Lawrence brought their newborn son, Hugh, home from the hospital. Like any new parents, they were excited, especially because Hugh was the “miracle” in vitro fertilization baby they had longed for. The pair placed Hugh’s baby carrier on the porch outside the front door and snapped photos to mark the occasion. Then Williams broke down, bursting into tears. Despite welcoming a newborn into their lives and their home, it was not the family homecoming they wished for. Four years after purchasing the property, the couple learned it is a "Mr. Fluffy home" — the moniker given to more than 1,000 Canberra homes riddled with deadly loose-fill asbestos insulation. The couple's newborn son, Hugh, in his baby carrier when Katie Williams and Daniel Lawrence welcomed him home. Photo: Ginger Gorman. The International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies asbestos as carcinogenic to humans with no safe level of exposure. Asbestos also causes mesothelioma, an aggressive and incurable cancer, among other diseases. Now, the couple and their newborn face an uncertain future. Not only will their home be demolished, but they must buy a new home in an unstable housing market. Another worry: their exposure to asbestos. Williams, 28, says the possibility of “this long, painful, tortuous death of asbestos-related disease” plays on her mind. “I do worry about how that may manifest in ...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Tags: Asbestos Exposure & Bans Source Type: news