Asbestos-related injury claims show no signs of abating in the U.S., Europe and Australia, and may in fact substantially increase, according to a new study.

Adrian Leonard, author of the report, Asbestos: The Relentless Peril, noted that “the asbestos issue is heating up at a frightening rate. Anyone who thinks the end of asbestos claims is within sight should think again.”

Mr. Leonard is the former editor of the London-based World Insurance Report and the author of several other international insurance studies.

For the United States, Mr. Leonard sees asbestos loss reserves as indicative of a growing and previously underestimated problem. “The latest reserving actions by U.S. insurers suggest that their more recent actuarial analyses uncovered a problem significantly larger than is presently acknowledged.”