After pressure from citizens’ groups concerned about Japan’s growing rate of asbestos diseases, the government released the names of more than 2,000 companies around the country where at least one employee had received compensation for an asbestos-related illness between fiscal 2005 and 2006.

According to an article in Asahi, Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been under pressure from groups supporting those suffering from asbestos-caused respiratory illnesses as well as family members of the victims to release the names quickly. The list, the article explains, would enable those who lived near the companies or who had family members who worked there to be checked for diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer for which the only known cause is asbestos exposure.

Health ministry officials defended the delay in releasing the report. “We placed priority on handling the sudden increase in applications for employee compensation, and the delay was not out of consideration for the companies involved,” said one official.

Japanese citizens became aware of the widespread dangers of asbestos use after Kubota Corporation released a report in 2005 which outlined illnesses among former workers at its plant in Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, and among residents living near the factory.

Nearly 90 percent of the companies listed on the newly-released report were in the construction and manufacturing businesses. Among manufacturing companies, there were 159 locations related to the shipbuilding industry in some way or another. Many companies on the list are in the ceramics and machinery and tool manufacturing sectors of industry.

Also on the list were a handful of department stores and financial institutions. In these instances, employees had been exposed due to damaged asbestos in the buildings that house these businesses.

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