| |

A Global Guide to Asbestos Consumption and Ending Mesothelioma

ByHolly Zink

Asbestos Consumption and Mesothelioma: Global Data UpdateThe World Health Organization (WHO) is working to end asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma. This means the end of asbestos use and consumption.

New data shows the association between deaths from mesothelioma and asbestos consumption. Ecological studies play an important part in public health policy. The new Australian publication provides updated numbers about mesothelioma populations around the world.

What We Knew About Mesothelioma and Asbestos 15 Years Ago

A 2007 report provided clear evidence about the connection between asbestos and mesothelioma. But since that first report, only a few countries have implemented asbestos bans. Many developing countries continue to consume asbestos.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that has been found throughout the world. It was once called the “magic mineral” because of its seemingly magical properties. All these properties pale in comparison to the fact that asbestos is toxic and cancer-causing for human beings. Asbestos causes mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases.

In the last 15 years, more global data on this important connection have been collected. This includes countries that had not reported data before.

Compared with the 2007 study, the ecological associations remained consistent for mesothelioma. Asbestos consumption is a highly significant positive predictor for all mesothelioma types.

What We Know Today

The connection between asbestos consumption and mesothelioma is true in every country. Countries with little historical asbestos consumption experienced very low levels of mesothelioma. But mortality rates still increase exponentially relative to asbestos exposure.

The evidence is clear. But there are many countries still not heeding the call to stop using asbestos. This is especially true for many developing countries.

More ecological studies can provide evidence to impact government policy. These new data can help policymakers understand the health-related phenomenon.

The data published in Environmental Health Perspectives provides asbestos consumption per capita data. But this data does not distinguish between asbestos fiber types. It does provide a large database for global asbestos consumption and asbestos-related disease.

In the past 15 years, countries have been slow to adopt new asbestos bans. The global population at risk for mesothelioma remains very high. Public health policy is hoping for the ultimate goal of a global asbestos ban. This goal warrants reinforcement from various perspectives.

Source:

Rath, Emma M., Man Lee Yuen, Chimed-Ochir Odgerel, Ro-Ting Lin, Matthew Soeberg, Anna K. Nowak, and Ken Takahashi. “The ecological association between asbestos consumption and asbestos-related diseases 15 years later.” Environmental Health Perspectives 130, no. 5 (2022): 057703. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11148

Similar Posts

  • |

    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 Blood Test May Be Possible

    ByAlex Strauss

    An international team of researchers is studying the proteins found on the surface of cancer cells in an effort to improve mesothelioma diagnosis. The team, made up of scientists from the US, Switzerland, Italy and Chile, has just published their findings on a new kind of test to identify protein-derived mesothelioma biomarkers in blood serum. Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the membranes around organs. Because the most common mesothelioma biomarker, mesothelin, is also overproduced by other kinds of cancer cells, it has only limited diagnostic value. A test to identify a set of proteins produced specifically by mesothelioma cells could greatly improve diagnostic accuracy. Led by Ferdinando Cerciello and Bernd Wollscheid of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology in…

  • | |

    Micro-RNAs May Offer New Way to Fight Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Scientists at one of the world’s top mesothelioma research centers, the Asbestos Diseases Research institute in Sydney, Australia, say that restoring the expression of certain micro RNAs in the cells of mesothelioma patients may offer a new way to fight the disease. A microRNA is a small RNA molecule which is involved in the regulation of gene expression. According to a new report in the Annals of Oncology, the Australian scientists found reduced expression of the micro RNA-15 family (miR-15/16) in the cells of mice with mesothelioma. “When malignant pleural mesothelioma cell lines were compared with the normal mesothelial cell line MeT-5A, the downregulation of miR-15/16 was 2- to 10-fold,” they report. This finding is consistent with previous cancer research…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Claims Another American Actor

    ByAlex Strauss

    Another American actor has died of malignant mesothelioma. Veteran character actor Ed Lauter, who worked with such prominent names as Clint Eastwood, George C. Scott, Burt Reynolds and Tom Cruise, died this week in Los Angeles. According to the Associated Press, one of Lauter’s most notable roles was that of a prison guard in the 1974 Burt Reynolds film “The Longest Yard”. He also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Family Plot”, “Born on the Fourth of July” with Tom Cruise, and most recently played a butler in the 2011 Oscar-winning film “The Artist”. Lauter’s television appearances included “The Office”, “ER”, “Murder She Wrote” and “The Rockford Files”. Although little is being said about the origin of Lauter’s mesothelioma, an aggressive…

  • |

    Mesothelioma Still Carries Heavy Mortality Burden in U.S.

    ByAlex Strauss

    Asbestos exposure cost Americans more than 427,000 years of potential life in the first decade of the new millennium. That figure comes from a study on mesothelioma and asbestosis – the two most deadly asbestos-related diseases – conducted by the CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). Using National Center for Health Statistics mortality data, NIOSH researchers evaluated premature deaths and “loss of potentially productive years of life” attributable to either asbestosis or mesothelioma between 1999 and 2010. The data included only people 25 years or older with an underlying cause of death listed on their death certificate of either asbestosis or malignant mesothelioma. When the figures were calculated using the normal life expectancy for each asbestosis victim…

  • | |

    Needle Biopsy “Simple, Safe & Accurate” for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mesothelioma researchers in China say a biopsy method that involves a single skin puncture can produce good diagnostic results for mesothelioma patients with little pain or risk. The study focused on percutaneous (through the skin) biopsy in patients who had unexplained fluid buildup or swelling in their abdomens. Abdominal distension and fluid buildup (called ascites) can be signs of peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive cancer of the abdominal lining caused by exposure to asbestos. Peritoneal mesothelioma accounts for less than 30% of all mesothelioma cases. Because the symptoms may be vague and often develop many decades after asbestos exposure, peritoneal mesothelioma can be especially challenging to diagnose.  Misdiagnosis and under-diagnosis are not uncommon. In the newest study on percutaneous…