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Child Maintenance and Other Payments Bill

As I have said, I would be happy for some compensation to be paid in what I am told is the less than 1 per cent. of cases where there is an uncomfortable grating sensation on breathing. Paragraph (h) of section 10 of the Court of Appeal judgment said:"““Plaques do not in themselves threaten or lead to…other asbestos induced conditions nor…are they a necessary pre-condition for such; they do not increase the risk of lung cancer; they differ from diffuse pleural thickening; and their pathology is entirely distinct from that of mesothelioma. It is the exposure to asbestos that they evidence””." Meanwhile, in the case of Wright v. Stoddard earlier this year, Lord Uist said:"““It is not that pleural plaques cause harm which is de minimis: it is that they cause no harm at all.””" But enough of the lawyers—we have heard it said that pleural plaques is a working-class disease, so what do middle-class lawyers and insurers know about it? I want to deal with the remarks of the clinicians—not the insurance companies, but the doctors who have spent their lives trying to treat people with different forms of lung illness. Dr. John Moore-Gillon, the president of the British Lung Foundation, has said:"““Pleural plaques do not themselves 'turn malignant' and become a malignant mesothelioma. They do not in themselves cause asbestosis to develop, nor do pleural plaques increase the risk of lung cancer, and they are a different condition from diffuse pleural thickening.””" Dr. Robin Rudd, a leading consultant, has said:"““Pleural plaques are not thought to lead directly to any of the other benign varieties of asbestos-induced pleural disease.””" Dr. John Moore-Gillon has also said:"““This is, however, a different matter from saying that the pleural plaques in themselves give rise to an increased risk of other asbestos-related conditions. Pleural plaques do not themselves 'turn malignant' and become a malignant mesothelioma. They do not in themselves cause asbestosis to develop, nor do pleural plaques increase the risk of lung cancer, and they are a different condition from…pleural thickening.””"