Australian renovators look at asbestos risk as a joke, with 60 percent of them admits that they have been exposed to the lethal product.

A poll conducted by the NSW-based renovators found out a link to fatal lung disease when exposed to building materials with high asbestos risk.

53 percent of them admit that their partners have been exposed to asbestos, while 40 percent thinks that their children have been in deadly contact with it.

Dr Anthony Johnson, a respiratory physician at Liverpool Hospital, has polled more the 3,600 home renovators and describes the result as unexpected and frightening.

I think this is troubling... these people have been educated about the level of risk this product has, but still, they don't do anything about it. Dr. Johnson said.

We know from results and experience that people who have only a bit of exposure to asbestos have the potential to develop threatening diseases such as mesothelioma, the cancer from asbestos.

Asbestos, which was widely used in Australia up to the late 1980's, is considered safe if undistributed. A certified contractor must be called if removing asbestos products from a house.

Dr Johnson suspects that home renovators chose to deal with it themselves, and they think it's not worth the trouble; I'll do it myself instead.

I think they are dismissive about it because the risk is not immediate. The average time between exposure and the development of mesothelioma is about 45 years. Effects can be seen in a long term basis.

Dr Johnson said that the poll is limited to NSW only. Asbestos building materials are used widely across the country, and the said practices of home renovators may be similarly Australia-wide.

Health authorities may need to adjust the nation's anticipation of the peak of mesothelioma cases from 2014 to 2017, based on the history of asbestos exposures.

Australia Medicine