asbestos

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    Mesothelioma May Affect New Generation of Vets

    ByAlex Strauss

    There is mounting evidence that military veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan may be at risk for mesothelioma and other serious respiratory issues because of exposure to airborne toxins. A recent issue of the Marine Corps Times tells the story of several veterans faced with huge medical bills because of mesothelioma or other serious respiratory issues. Mesothelioma is typically associated with inhalation or ingestion of asbestos. A number of veterans of Middle East conflicts believe the contaminants that they inhaled around open air burn pits or in desert dust is to blame for their rare medical conditions such as mesothelioma, constrictive bronchiolitis, or the newly-named “Iraq/Afghanistan War Lung Injury.” Dr. Terry Walters, deputy chief consultant of the Veterans Administration’s environmental…

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    Navy Did Not Protect All Veterans from Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    Calling it one of the “most knowledgeable organizations in the world regarding the health hazards of asbestos,” a San Francisco-based chemical risk assessment company says that the U.S. Navy was ahead of the curve in attempting to protect veterans and civilians from mesothelioma in the 1960’s.  Ships of that era were heavily laden with asbestos, making Navy veterans among the most common victims of mesothelioma, the most serious of the diseases caused by asbestos exposure. But according to Kara Franke and Dennis Paustenbach who examined dozens of published and unpublished documents on asbestos knowledge from 1900 to 1970, the Navy understood the health hazards of asbestos as early as the 1930’s. Although they continued to require its use on ships, the Navy…

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    Demolition May Raise Mesothelioma Risk

    ByAlex Strauss

    Do not take the dangers of asbestos for granted. That warning comes directly from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which admits to having done exactly that when it experimented with relaxing some of its own regulations for safe asbestos handling. EPA began regulating asbestos use after the material was linked to mesothelioma and a range of other health problems in the 1960’s. Airborne asbestos fibers can lodge in the lungs, triggering mesothelioma even decades after exposure. Despite the danger, beginning in 1999, EPA considered alternative methods to “augment” the Asbestos National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, the act that governs asbestos handling during demolition. The alternative methods considered, including the Fort Worth Method and the Alternative Asbestos Control Method, leave some…

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    Actor’s Death Highlights Mesothelioma Risk in Australia

    ByAlex Strauss

    An Australian film actor best known in the U.S. for playing opposite Mel Gibson in Gallipoli has died ofmesothelioma.  Harold Hopkins died in a Sydney hospital where he was receiving hospice care.  He was 67 years old. Mesothelioma is a cancer that affects the thin tissue around internal organs.  It is often considered an occupational disease, since many people come into contact with the asbestos that causes it while working in various industrial settings.  Although actors are not typically thought to be at high risk for mesothelioma, Hopkins reportedly encountered asbestos long before his acting career began.  According to Australia’s Daily Telegraph, he was exposed to asbestos as early as the 1960’s while working his first job after high school…

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    Canada Halts Mining of Mesothelioma-Causing Asbestos

    ByAlex Strauss

    A country that was once the world’s top producer of mesothelioma-causing asbestos has stopped production for the first time in 130 years. Mining of the controversial mineral has come to a halt at Canada’s two remaining asbestos mines because of money and logistical problems. Health officials around the world have been highly critical of Canada’s asbestos industry and its exportation policies because of the clear link between asbestos and deadly mesothelioma.  Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the tissue encasing the lungs and lining of the abdomen, is on the rise worldwide, especially in third-world countries where asbestos is still used as a cheap additive to building materials.  Many of these countries are top importers of Canadian asbestos. Canada once dominated…

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    New Blood Test May Help Diagnose Mesothelioma Earlier

    ByAlex Strauss

    Investigators in California are evaluating new technology that could eventually help diagnose mesothelioma with a simple blood test. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.  It strikes about 2,500 people in the U.S. each year.  But its rarity – and its tendency to mimic other lung-related diseases – can make mesothelioma hard to diagnose.  In recent years, some mesothelioma centers have begun evaluating the DNA composition of suspected mesothelioma cells using a test called a DNA array. Now, a group of researchers in California reports that a different type of evaluation – one that looks for abnormal sugars (glycans) in blood serum – may offer another diagnostic option for mesothelioma.  Anti-glycan antibodies are produced by the immune system…

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    Both Pleural and Peritoneal Mesothelioma Connected to Asbestos

    ByAlex Strauss

    Italy has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world and according to two new studies, mesothelioma rates are a “suitable indicator” of asbestos exposure for both peritoneal and pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos has long been known to be the cause of mesothelioma.  Italian researchers have highlighted this association by analyzing Italian mesothelioma data from 1995-2002.  They discovered that the annual mortality rate was 1.9 per 100,000. Significant mesothelioma clusters were found in the industries often associated with asbestos exposure, including: asbestos-cement industries, shipyards, oil refineries and petrochemical industries.  The authors concluded that their study “confirms malignant pleural neoplasms mortality as a suitable indicator of asbestos exposure at geographic level.” In a related study, Italian researchers examined the relationship between…

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    Mesothelioma Tests Focus on Prediction and Prevention

    ByAlex Strauss

    A California mesothelioma doctor believes it may eventually be possible to predict who is likely to get malignant mesothelioma and even keep it from developing. Only about 15 percent of people exposed to asbestos will go on to develop mesothelioma or lung cancer, but right now they have no way of knowing who they are.  Now scientists at UCLA and other mesothelioma treatment centers around the country, in conjunction with surgical oncologist Dr. Robert Cameron and the Pacific, Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (PHLBI), are gearing up to develop tests that could identify those at highest risk for asbestos-related malignancies.  The teams will also test methods of preventing mesothelioma or for finding it in its earliest stage. Dr. Cameron and the research…

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    Korea: Mesothelioma to Rise for Another 30 Years

    ByAlex Strauss

    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…

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    Libby Residents Settle Mesothelioma and Asbestos Lawsuits

    ByAlex Strauss

    Residents of Libby, Montana who have contracted mesothelioma and other disease from exposure to asbestos will share a $43 million dollar settlement. The settlement is a response to 200 lawsuits filed over the contaminated W.R. Grace & Co. vermiculite mine outside of Libby.  A Montana district court ruled that the state failed to “warn and protect” Libby residents about the dangers of asbestos, which include mesothelioma.  According to the Los Angeles Times, payouts for the 1,300 plaintiffs will range from $500 to more than $50,000. The state did not admit liability as part of the settlement and those who signed it agreed to release the state from future claims. Although the Libby mine has been closed since 1990 and the Environmental Protection…