Chemical gave man cancer

John Watts was exposed to a chemical in the 1940s, now known to cause bladder cancer, while working for the company at its factories in Melksham and Bradford.

The rubber industry stopped using the chemical when its risks were discovered in 1949.

But it was already too late for Mr Watts, of Kingsfield, who had been exposed to it while working in the tubing and hosing department.

An inquest at Chippenham was told on Wednesday that all Avon workers known to be at risk because of previous exposure were given six-monthly urine tests for the rest of their lives.

Mr Watts, who worked for Avon from 1954 to 1986, was clear until suspect cells were discovered and bladder cancer diagnosed in 1995.

The tumour was kept under control with operations every six months, but in 2001 it took hold.

Mr Watts was admitted as an emergency to the Dorothy House Hospice in Winsley on July 11 and died hours later. He was 72.

Avon Rubber safety manager Heather Aston told the inquest the cancer-causing chemical was used by the firm at its Melksham factory to make gas masks and inner tubes.

She said: "It has been accepted that anyone employed at the Melksham site up to and including 1949 could have been exposed to it. The link to bladder cancer was discovered in 1949 and Avon Rubber and the industry withdrew use of that product."

She said the company did not have figures showing how many former workers had developed bladder cancer.

She said: "There are no figures for the number of deaths, but I know from the inquests I have been to that there have been others."

Assistant deputy coroner Nigel Brookes recorded a verdict that Mr Watts died from an industrial disease.

He said: "I have been told that Mr Watts was exposed to the chemical and later developed bladder cancer.

"Because of the known link between it and bladder cancer, I am satisfied that it is more likely than not that the cancer was caused by exposure to that product."