How a terrifying ignorance about lethal asbestos is threatening the lives of our young tradesmen: The truth about why so many STILL have fatally cavalier attitudes towards the cancer-causing fibres

Retired electrician David Smith, 70, still can't believe the dangerous behaviour that used to horrify him on building sites. The Daily Mail's 'Asbestos: Britain's Hidden Killer' campaign has been launched to persuade the Government to introduce a phased removal of asbestos from public buildings, starting with schools and hospitals Terry Cowell, a former heating engineer, 77, shudders at the memory of ripping off white asbestos ropes. Worryingly, almost half of the tradespeople polled – 46 per cent – thought that what little asbestos training they had received was inadequate. During an operation to fix it, surgeons found suspicious white flecks that turned out to be the early stages of mesothelioma Liam stays fit and healthy, determined to spend as much time as he can with his wife, Bryony, and daughters Piper, Harper, and Nevaeh 'When I tell them they are crazy to be handling asbestos so dangerously and that they could develop cancer, the response is often: 'Well, it's an old man's disease – I'll be in my eighties when it gets me so I'll be on the way out anyway.' 'When I try to educate workers about the danger of asbestos, I tell them I may not live to see my children get married – it's a sobering thought,' he says.