| |

Korea: Mesothelioma to Rise for Another 30 Years

ByAlex Strauss

14153135_Korea

While mesothelioma rates are expected to start declining in the U.S. within the next decade, Korea’s war on against this aggressive cancer may be just getting started.

According to English language newspaper The Korea Herald, Korea’s Ministry of Environment is predicting that the number of mesothelioma cases will continue to rise in that country until the year 2045. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos. The Ministry of Environment report shows that the number of mesothelioma patients registered at Korean medical facilities jumped from 61 in 1996 to 152 in 2007. The number of deaths from asbestos exposure also rose from 24 in 2001 to 57 in 2006.

Although Korea recently enacted a law regulating asbestos use which will take effect in April, the 10 to 40 year latency period for mesothelioma means that thousands of Koreans may already be on track to contract the disease. But the National Institute of Environment Research in Korea predicts that the new law with have a profound effect on future disease. They say the new regulations may prevent up to 20,000 asbestos-related deaths over the next 50 years.

The Ministry of Environment report acknowledged that a number of other developed countries are well ahead of Korea in recognizing and addressing the problem of asbestos and mesothelioma. In the Netherlands, where asbestos use has been regulated since 1991, the number of mesothelioma cases is expected to start declining by 2017. In Japan, health authorities have seen an increase in mesothelioma cases since 2000 with a peak number of cases predicted around 2030. Asbestos has been banned in Japan since 2005.

In the U.S., the National Institutes of Health estimates that around 11 million people were exposed to asbestos between 1940 and 1978. Although asbestos use on the job is now regulated by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), it has not been banned. On July 12, 1989, EPA banned most asbestos-containing products, but in 1991, this regulation was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. About 2,500 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, a figure that is expected to begin declining by around 2020.

Sources:

Bae Ji-Sook, “Asbestos Cancer Cases of Peak in 2045”, October 3, 2011, The Korea Herald.
“Asbestos Exposure and Cancer Risk”, NIH Fact Sheet.

Similar Posts

  • | |

    Mesothelioma survivor Paul Kraus, alive and well 19 years after writing “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers

    ByAlex Strauss

    Paul Kraus is considered the longest documented mesothelioma survivor in the world. He was diagnosed in 1997 with mesothelioma so widespread that he was given little hope of survival. Not willing to give up, he worked with a team of doctors to create his own tailored treatment protocol. This protocol included dramatic life style change, experimental therapies, dietary changes, mind-body medicine, and other modalities. Paul was fortunate. The protocol he and his doctors created helped him keep the mesothelioma in check. His book “Surviving Mesothelioma and Other Cancers: A Patient’s Guide” details his cancer voyage, the decisions he made, and his philosophies about health and healing. This book is now the best-selling mesothelioma book in the world and has inspired…

  • | |

    Doctors Describe "Concrete Therapeutic Approach" for Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A team of medical researchers in Italy have achieved what they are calling “excellent” tumor control and survival results in malignant pleural mesothelioma patients using a combination of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Caused by exposure to asbestos, mesothelioma typically spreads quickly across the lung-encasing membrane called the pleura. There is no known cure but treatments are improving. In the current prospective study, 20 malignant pleural mesothelioma patients underwent radical pleurectomy/decortication followed by high doses of radiation. After surgeons removed as much of the visible mesothelioma tumor and surrounding tissue as possible, patients received 50Gy of radiation to the effected side of their chest, delivered in 25 fractions. Regions of particular concern for mesothelioma regrowth got an extra radiation “boost” to…

  • |

    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…

  • | |

    Does Radiotherapy Reduce Mesothelioma Pain?

    ByAlex Strauss

    A new study says there is not enough evidence to support the use of radiotherapy for the treatment of pain associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma. Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland reviewed a range of past studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy by searching databases that date back as far as 1974. To be eligible to be included in their review, the study had to focus on malignant pleural mesothelioma and radiotherapy given “with the intent of improving pain”. The study also had to report doses and fractionation of the radiotherapy and how the pain responded. In all, the researchers found eight studies on mesothelioma pain and radiotherapy that met the criteria. Two of the studies were prospective…

  • |

    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…

  • |

    Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab

    ByAlex Strauss

    A virus that causes leukemia in gibbon apes may have the power to help fight malignant mesothelioma in people. Gibbon ape leukemia virus (GALV) has been tested for years as a viral vector, a carrier of therapeutic genetic information, in the treatment of various human illnesses, including cancer. A new study in Japan compared GALV with a leukemia virus derived from mice to see which carrier communicated most efficiently with mesothelioma cells. While both types of viruses replicated in most of the mesothelioma cell lines tested, the mouse-derived virus was not effective in a mesothelioma cell line called ACC-MESO-1. In this cell line, only the GALV spread efficiently both in culture and in mice that had been given human mesothelioma…