A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia pinpoints home renovations as the reason for a new wave of cases of asbestos-related cancer.

According to the research, a sharp increase in the number of malignant mesothelioma cases in Western Australia over the past decade resulted from do-it-yourself (DIY) activities involving building products containing asbestos.

Lawyers representing victims of this rare cancer have backed the study.

Theodora Ahilas, asbestos principal lawyer in New South Wales, said compensation law firm Maurice Blackburn had seen an increase in the number of people becoming sick after doing small and large scale home renovations and general maintenance around their home.

"Many people believe workers are most at risk. However, from my experience, others who have had this low-dose exposure around the home, have also become ill," Ahilas said.

"For example, in 1970, one of my clients, who was quite young at the time had no exposure to asbestos at the workplace but did hold up six sheets of asbestos while family members cut them. Recently, in her 40s, she was diagnosed with mesothelioma," she said.

While Australia no longer manufactures asbestos and there is of awareness of hazards of the workplace, many homes built between the 1940s and the 1980s still contain asbestos.

"The manufacturers of these products owe a duty of care not only to people who build homes using their products but also to those who demolish or renovate a home containing their products," she said.

Asbestos is a known carcinogen with no safe level of exposure and has a latency period of more than 15 years with 35 years being the average.