FORMER Coronation Street star Bruce Jones fears he may have contracted an incurable cancer while working as a boiler engineer.
Bruce, 56, spoke publicly of his worry while sitting alongside friend and former heating engineer John Willet, 57, who is terminally ill with asbestos-related mesothelioma.
They are now calling for more research to be done into the disease, the least researched of the 20 most common cancers.
After leaving school Bruce, who played layabout Les Battersby in the TV soap, spent about 15 years working in close contact with asbestos while stripping boilers and doing pipe work before finding fame.
The use of asbestos was banned about a decade ago but it is feared tens of thousands of people will develop mesothelioma as a result of previous exposure. Symptoms can appear more than 25 years after exposure.
Bruce said: "I never thought about it and didn't know much about it until I spoke to John, who is an amazing guy.
We worked in the same industry and were never told how dangerous asbestos was.
"I've been given the all clear after medicals and all I can do is hope. But I never know because it takes so long to detect and I hope I don't end up like John."
"Not enough is being spent on research and if the government is willing to bail out the banks it should be prepared to fund it.
Asbestos is still in buildings, schools, workplaces and people need to know the danger."
Father-of-three John, from Heald Green, Stockport, who worked for Manchester Corporation, was diagnosed just over four years ago after going to his GP when he became breathless walking from a shop to his car.
Tests later revealed his right lung had collapsed and he had mesothelioma.
He said: "As far as I am concerned, the government, which was my employer, has signed my death warrant."
"Government, employers and the enforcement agencies failed to protect myself and thousands of others from exposure to asbestos. The very least they can do now is to support research into this terrible disease."
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