Mr Fluffy cancer links to be officially studied

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr and Health Minister Simon Corbell will on Monday announce a research program into long-term health effects for Canberrans who have lived or worked in homes which were filled with loose amosite asbestos in the 1960s and '70s.

The research will be undertaken at the Australian National University's National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, with Associate Professor Martyn Kirk the lead investigator and research overseen by the ACT's Chief Health Officer, Dr Paul Kelly.

The study will run over two years at a cost of $415,000.

Mr Corbell said the study would be broken into four parts with general results of the study to be made public and likely to be published in peer-reviewed journals.

First, a review of mesothelioma rates and distribution in the ACT would be conducted within six months.

Focus groups would be held with current and recent residents of affected homes to discuss their health-related concerns – undertaken on a voluntary basis.

A study would look at the likely exposure levels of current and recent residents in terms of years lived in an affected house and activities such as renovating. This would be completed within 18 months.

The final part of the research would link a number of data sets to estimate the risk of developing mesothelioma in current and former residents of affected houses compared with the general population.

Mr Corbell said a definitive health study was a vital part of the government's commitment to address Mr Fluffy as it progresses its $1 billion program to demolish 1021 affected homes across the ACT.

"Experts have recommended to government there is no long-term safe way to reside in Mr Fluffy homes, therefore it is incumbent on the government to provide a scientific assessment for those at risk," he said.

"I appreciate for some this may raise concerns and anxiety but equally we need to look at the issue in a substantive way rather than leaving it as a matter of doubt."

Mental health issues associated with potential exposure in a home may be included when residents discuss general health issues with researchers.

Mr Fluffy homeowners indicated to the ACT government at an Asbestos Response Taskforce community forum last year that they would like a health study conducted on this issue – taking up a recommendation which has been made to successive governments from both health and review bodies over time as part of the response to Mr Fluffy and the Commonwealth clean-up which took place in the late 1980s.

Mr Barr said the ACT government had "listened, and responded".

Mr Corbell said that although the mesothelioma rate was low in the ACT with about 10 cases per year – the ACT faced a unique problem in the large number of loose-fill asbestos houses in the territory, and it was important for the government to find out as much as it could about the effects of living in a Mr Fluffy house.

"The period from exposure to developing mesothelioma can be as long as 40 years so if there is an increase in mesothelioma cases in the ACT as a result of loose-fill amosite asbestos, it may not be seen for many years," he said.

"This means that it is possible that this study may well be updated over time. Each part of the study will feed information into the next part so the whole picture will not become clear until the end of the study."

The unique circumstances through which the ACT population has been exposed to amosite in homes over the past 40 years would make the study a world-first.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lungs which is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. It is one of the least treatable cancers and carries an average life expectancy of just 18 months.

Since the Mr Fluffy issue gained public prominence last year, The Canberra Times has reported that two Canberrans have been diagnosed and two have died due to likely Mr Fluffy exposure.