Justin McCurry: “One expert has predicted that over a 40-year period starting in 2000, the number of deaths from the disease could exceed 100,000. Thought will also have to be given to how an unknown number of old, asbestos-laden buildings, including schools, can be demolished without posing a risk to both workers and nearby residents.”

He’s not talking about a left-over from the former Soviet Union or an impoverished state. The country whose government seems to have turned a completely blind eye to the dangers of asbestos is the world’s second largest economy, Japan. Unfathomable.