| | |

Mesothelioma Risk Among Navy Veterans is Focus of New Report

ByAlex Strauss

Military veteran asbestosA new study offers a sobering reminder of the mesothelioma risk among Navy veterans.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University compared mesothelioma deaths among 114,000 veterans. These veterans were involved in nuclear testing during the Cold War. They referred to these service members as “atomic veterans”.

Between 1945 and 1962, the US conducted 230 above-ground nuclear tests. Some of the tests took place in the Nevada desert while others were in the Pacific ocean.

In a new study in the International Journal of Radiation Biology, researchers found a high mesothelioma risk among Navy veterans. They determined that it was much higher than it was in the other atomic veterans studied.

Assessing Mesothelioma Risk in Atomic Veterans

More than 250,000 military personnel took part in the Cold War nuclear tests. The Vanderbilt researchers singled out 114,000 radiation exposed veterans to focus on.

Then, the team looked at what jobs were most likely to expose these soldiers to asbestos. Asbestos is the primary cause of malignant mesothelioma.

“We were able to categorize specific jobs into potential for asbestos exposure based on a detailed database of the military activities of the atomic veterans, developed using historical records provided by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency,” explains the report.

The report determined that 20 percent of the atomic veterans worked in jobs that had a “high potential” for asbestos exposure.

Even so, 55 percent of the mesothelioma deaths occurred only among sailors with these jobs. Their high-risk jobs included machinist’s mate, pipe fitter, boiler technician, water tender and firefighter.

Why is There a Higher Risk for Mesothelioma Among Navy Veterans?

The mesothelioma risk among Navy veterans and other members of the Armed Forces is well-documented. Navy veterans and merchant marines have one of the highest rates of mesothelioma.

During World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, the military used a lot of asbestos. Most US military ships, planes and vehicles used various types of asbestos-containing products.

Many airplanes had fire-resistant asbestos in their cabins. It was also used in the transmissions, clutches and brakes of vehicles, and throughout ships. Some Navy veterans remember sleeping in bunks that were inches away from asbestos-wrapped pipes.

“The significantly higher mortality rate overall was explained by asbestos exposure among enlisted naval personnel in this low-dose radiation exposed cohort,” conclude the authors of the new report.

When asbestos is swallowed or inhaled, it can cause mesothelioma symptoms even decades later. Often, sailors who were exposed to asbestos when they were young do not develop mesothelioma until they are seniors.

Source:

Till, JE, et al, “Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Mortality among Atomic Veterans”, December 4, 2018, International Journal of Radiation Biology, Epub ahead of print, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09553002.2018.1551641?journalCode=irab20

 

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…

Ape Virus Shrinks Mesothelioma Tumors in Lab
|

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…

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…

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…