| | | |

History of Asbestos Mining Blamed for Mesothelioma Epidemic

ByAlex Strauss
history of asbestos mining

Residents of Western Australia are still paying the price for the history of asbestos mining in the region.

A new report from the University of Western Australia focuses on people in the region of the now-closed Wittenoom asbestos mine. 

The report blames the mine and its products for an “ongoing epidemic of mortality from lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma”. 

Australia’s Sad History of Asbestos Mining

Asbestos is a mineral once prized for its strength and abundance. It was used around the world in thousands of products, including many construction materials. 

Australia has a long history of asbestos mining and exportation. The country was once one of the world’s top producers of asbestos. The Australian Blue Asbestos Company in Wittenoom was the country’s biggest mine.

The Wittenoom mine produced crocidolite or “blue asbestos”. Crocidolite is one of several varieties of asbestos. They differ in the size and shape of their fibers. All types of asbestos are linked to pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. 

Wittenoom’s Crocidolite Test Cases

The Wittenoom mine closed in 1966. Because of its history of asbestos mining, Wittenoom is now an ideal place to study mesothelioma.  Mine employees and local residents are the subjects of many scientific studies.

For the latest report, researchers studied the two groups separately. Researchers tracked them through hospital, death, and cancer records. The process produced a picture of the “evolution of asbestos-related disease”. 

Researchers also determined each individuals’ likely level of asbestos exposure. Then they compared these levels to mesothelioma incidence. This allowed them to estimate an “exposure-response” relationship. 

“There has been an ongoing epidemic of mortality from lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma,” they report. In fact, Western Australia has the highest per capita rate of death from malignant mesothelioma in the world. 

The region’s history of asbestos mining is the culprit. 

US Not Exempt from a History of Asbestos Mining

The US has its own tragic history of asbestos mining. The town of Libby, Montana is often compared to Wittenoom. 

Libby was home to the W.R. Grace & Company vermiculite mine. Vermiculite is a different mineral. But the vermiculite mined in Libby was contaminated with asbestos. Hundreds of Libby residents have died and thousands more are sick with lung cancer, asbestosis, or mesothelioma. 

The mine closed in 1990 and the EPA stepped in to clean up the town in 1999. Like Wittenoom, repercussions of the history of asbestos mining in Libby can still be felt. Thousands of older American homes and buildings still contain Libby vermiculite.

“The legacy of Wittenoom has extended beyond the mine and the town and is still evident more than 50 years after the closure of the mine,” write the Australian researchers.

Source: 

Musk, AW, et al, “The Wittenoom legacy”, October 31, 2019, International Journal of Epidemiology, Epub ahead of print, https://academic.oup.com/ije/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/ije/dyz204/5610558?redirectedFrom=fulltext

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…

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…

Study Confirms Firefighters at Elevated Risk for Mesothelioma
|

Study Confirms Firefighters at Elevated Risk for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A 5-year National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) study of U.S. firefighters is the first to confirm what has long been suspected: Firefighters are definitely at higher risk for malignant mesothelioma. The study examined the mortality patterns and cancer incidence (including mesothelioma) among 30,000 firefighters in three major cities. The study subjects were all career firefighters who started their careers after 1950 and were followed through 2009. In order to get a diverse sample of firefighters from across the country, the study focused on firefighters from San Francisco, Chicago and Philadelphia. Comparing firefighters to a sampling of the general public, the study looked at 92 causes of death and 41 cancer incidence groupings, with a focus on 15…