The family of a woman who died of an asbestos-related illness is seeking help from her former colleagues in their quest for justice. Former tobacco scientist Ivy Dash passed away in 2020 from mesothelioma, aged 94.
Previously independent, sociable and active, Ivy deteriorated quickly after the onset of the abdominal cancer, which is linked to asbestos exposure. It can take decades to manifest, with life expectancy generally limited to only a few short years once it does.
Ivy’s son Martin Dash told Bristol Live: “It’s an awful way to die, really terrible. Mum was becoming more and more unconscious as time went on. In the end they were taking a litre of brown-red fluid out of her lungs every day.
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“Eventually her extremities went purple and she was often unconscious. My brother or I would sleep in the room to nurse her. There would be goo coming out of her mouth and we would have to sponge it away – it was very distressing.”
Ivy worked for Imperial Tobacco between 1969 and 1982, analysing the contents of cigarette smoke in their laboratory. The company, now renamed Imperial Brands, manufactures the popular Golden Virginia rolling tobacco and still has its headquarters in Bristol.
Ivy spent time working at both the tobacco firm’s Bedminster and Hartcliffe plants. Her family are keen to speak with any former colleagues who may be able to recall asbestos use in the lab or maintenance works which may have exposed the carcinogenic fibres.
“We think she could have been exposed at work in one of two ways,” said Martin. “One of these is in her regular daily activities, as one of her responsibilities was to load a drum which smoked the cigarettes to measure the tar and so on.
“We know from discussions with Mum that the room had no windows and no ventilation. So when she came home from work she smelled strongly of tobacco and this went on for years and years.”
The family also suspects fireproof asbestos cladding – which might well have been widely used in a cigarette factory – of being the source of their mum’s illness. But requests to Imperial Brands for details of where cladding might have been located have been turned down or ignored, Martin claims.
“What we understand is that from the factory at Hartcliffe pipes and other parts of the structure were clad in asbestos,” he said. “Mum would have walked through that to reach her laboratory inside the building. So we think the exposure occurred in one way or both.”
The family has instructed specialist asbestos disease solicitor Rebecca Ryan to assist with their search for justice. “Mesothelioma is an incurable cancer which causes significant suffering for its victims and their families,” said Rebecca.
“Unfortunately, thousands of people die each year as a result of just going about their everyday lives, working to make a living and being exposed to asbestos dust.”
She added: “Ivy’s family were extremely upset to learn that Ivy’s premature death was caused by exposure to asbestos, and we are really hoping that this appeal for information will help us find some answers for them.”
Martin, who returned to the UK from Canada in 2020, to care for his mum in her final months, would like Imperial Brands to acknowledge the harm he believes it did, and to receive compensation for the distress caused to his family.
“We would like to see several outcomes,” he said. “A socially responsible company would say that on the balance of probabilities, it’s highly probable that Mum was exposed at her place of work, so we’re going to make an out-of-court settlement.
“We want them to admit there was likely a failure in the duty of care to our mum and others. We also want publicity so other employees can get tested and also get compensation, if they were exposed to asbestos while working in that factory.”
Bristol Live approached Imperial Brands for comment on the implication that Ivy had developed mesothelioma after coming into contact with asbestos at their factory. A spokesman responded: "We do not have any record of contact from Novum Law with regard to Ivy."
Anyone who worked with Ivy, in the lab or elsewhere at the factories, is urged to contact Rebecca at Novum Law. She can be reached on freephone number 0800 884 0777 or by email at rryan@novumlaw.com.
