AIR escapes from Ian Moore's lungs in a low rasp. His voice is thin, his sentences punctuated by long pauses as he struggles to catch his breath.
He suffers from mesothelioma. X-rays of his lungs show them riddled with dark clouds. An oxygen bottle is a near-constant companion.
This is the price he pays for a life spent handling asbestos.
James Hardie, the company that made most of the products that gave Mr Moore his disease, yesterday agreed to establish a $4 billion fund for victims, after six years of bitter legal wrangling.
