§ Mr. Skinnerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if there are any circumstances in which asbestosis is registered as pneumoconiosis by pneumoconiosis medical panels; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. PrenticeAsbestosis is one of the industrial pneumoconioses prescribed in334W regulations under the Social Security Act 1975. For statistical purposes, it is often convenient to include asbestosis cases under the general heading of pneumoconiosis but separate figures of newly diagonised pneumoconiosis cases attributable to work involving exposure to asbestos dust are maintained. The hon. Member may like to know that, in 1977, the last year for which figures have been published, 150 such cases were diagonised.
Given an appropriate occupational history and the evidence of radiographs, lung function tests and clinical examination, pneumoconiosis medical panels invariably distinguish between asbestosis and other forms of pneumoconiosis when recording their diagnosis.