| | |

Italian Case Illustrates Unusual Way of Tracking Asbestos Exposure

ByAlex Strauss
tracking asbestos exposure

After a mysterious cluster of mesothelioma cases cropped up among Italian textile workers, researchers found an unusual way of tracking asbestos exposure.

Asbestos is the main cause of malignant mesothelioma. Many mesothelioma patients came in contact with asbestos at work. But it is not always clear how it happened.  

Mesothelioma legal cases often hinge on tracking asbestos exposure at a negligent company. But in the case of the Italian textile workers, the exposure was not obvious. The workers produced sewing threads. They did not work directly with asbestos.

It was not until an abatement company started removing asbestos from the plant, that researchers got a clearer picture of why the workers got sick. 

The Challenge of Tracking Asbestos Exposure

Asbestos is a mineral found in the soil. It is strong, cheap, and resistant to heat and corrosion. For decades, asbestos was mined, packaged, and shipped around the world for use in manufacturing. 

The textile industry was one of the industries that sometimes used asbestos in its machinery. Most textile workers did not work directly with asbestos. In cases like these, tracking asbestos exposure can be difficult. 

If no one can track the source of the asbestos exposure, workers with mesothelioma may not be able to claim compensation. Even though eleven Tuscan thread makers contracted mesothelioma, the standard way of tracking asbestos exposure turned up nothing. 

“Using the common research method, the ROC [Mesothelioma Tracking Organization] had not previously been able to identify the specific sources of asbestos exposure causing such a large cluster,” wrote the researchers. 

Asbestos Abatement Provides New Information

Because it is so toxic, asbestos has to be removed by abatement professionals with protective gear. Looking at data from abatement companies made tracking asbestos exposure in the textile plant easier. 

The researchers examined the annual reports from asbestos removal companies in the Tuscany Region since 1988. Italian law requires the companies to report how much asbestos they remove and where it comes from. 

The team combined this information with interviews with former plant workers. They used all of the data to reconstruct the work environment, tracking asbestos exposure.

“The new collected information depicted a widespread asbestos pollution of the workplace during the period of employment of all cases,” writes lead author Alessia Angelini. 

As a result of the research, the eleven mesothelioma cases were reclassified as occupational exposures. This meant the workers could access medical and legal help for mesothelioma patients. 

Source:

Angelini, A, et al, “Reconstruction of the asbestos exposure in a textile company producing sewing threads through the use of an unusual information source”, February 27, 2020, Work, Environment, and Health, https://www.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/lamedicinadellavoro/article/view/8837

Similar Posts

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland
|

Mesothelioma Still Rising Despite Ban in Ireland

ByAlex Strauss

A study in Ireland confirms that it can take many years for a ban on asbestos to have a measurable impact on a country’s rates of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a list of diseases – including lung cancer, pleural plaques, asbestosis, and others – linked with exposure to asbestos dust. Affecting the linings around the lungs and other organs, mesothelioma is often resistant to most cancer treatments and may be fatal within a year of diagnosis. According to the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat, Ireland is one of 55 countries that have enacted some type of asbestos ban. However, although Ireland banned asbestos in 2000, a new study published in Cancer Epidemiology shows that incidence of the…

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma
|

Website Aims to Protect Homeowners from Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Australia’s Cancer Council is trying to educate home renovators about their risk for mesothelioma with a new e-learning course. Australia has one of the highest per capita rates of mesothelioma in the world, largely because of several asbestos mining operations that were once located there. Although asbestos has been banned from building products in Australia since 1989, asbestos-linked diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis continue to pose a serious health concern. While mesothelioma has traditionally occurred among people exposed to asbestos on the job, Australia is now bracing for another “wave” of mesothelioma victims among homeowners who encounter asbestos while doing their own renovation projects. Cancer Council Australia has launched “kNOw asbestos in your home” in an effort to…

Teacher’s Diagnosis Highlights Mesothelioma Risk in Schools
|

Teacher’s Diagnosis Highlights Mesothelioma Risk in Schools

ByAlex Strauss

A recent mesothelioma diagnosis in the UK once again dramatically highlights the fact that even a small amount of asbestos can be deadly. Sixty-three-year-old school teacher Marion Potts of Brockenhurst died of mesothelioma in a Southampton hospital in June. According to an article in The Mirror, the Coroner recorded a verdict of “death from an industrial disease” after hearing evidence last week that Potts actually saw asbestos dust being released when she pinned work on the classroom walls. Most recently, Potts was head of the English department at Romsey School in Hampshire until her retirement two years ago. Mesothelioma is a growing threat among school teachers, administrators, maintenance workers, and even students in British schools. A government report released last…

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia
| | |

Mesothelioma Nurses Ready for New Cases in Australia

ByAlex Strauss

Australia is bracing for an expected new wave of mesothelioma cases in the next decade and the Lung Foundation of Australia is taking action now to get ready. The Foundation has paid for ten nurses from around the country to receive specialized training in helping patients and families cope with mesothelioma. The nurses, who have recently completed the training, are now equipped to lead treatment planning for these complex cancer patients and to help other nurses do the same. Pleural mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that occurs in the lining around the lungs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos dust, a toxin that was once alarmingly prevalent in Australia where it was mined and heavily used in construction. Because…

Mesothelioma Victims’ Victory in Pennsylvania
|

Mesothelioma Victims’ Victory in Pennsylvania

ByAlex Strauss

Workers and their families have won a victory in Pennsylvania after the state Supreme Court ruled that they could sue former employers over late-manifesting industrial diseases like mesothelioma. The decision focused on a provision in Pennsylvania’s Workers’ Compensation Act that says workers cannot sue an employer if their occupational disease occurred more than 300 weeks after their on-the-job exposure. While many occupational injuries and diseases occur within weeks or months of exposure to a toxin, asbestos diseases like mesothelioma are a notable exception. Believed to be caused by chronic irritation from inhaled or ingested asbestos fibers, mesothelioma does not usually begin to cause symptoms until at least a decade after exposure. Expressing the opinion of the majority, Supreme Court Justice…

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades
| |

Spanish Mesothelioma Deaths Likely to Continue for Decades

ByAlex Strauss

New research in Spain suggests that mesothelioma deaths will continue in the country until the “last surviving member” of the group of people exposed to occupational asbestos succumbs to the disease. Like many countries, Spain used asbestos heavily in the first half of the 20th century, especially in construction, where the mineral was prized for its durability, low cost, and resistance to fire and corrosion.  Asbestos was banned in Spain in 2002. Observing that more than 2.5 million metric tons of asbestos were imported into Spain from 1906 to 2002, researchers say deaths from mesothelioma have risen steadily. Between 1976 and 1980, a total of 491 Spanish people died of mesothelioma. By the 5-year period from 2006 to 2010, that…