Energy Plant Workers Face Elevated Mesothelioma Risk
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Energy Plant Workers Face Elevated Mesothelioma Risk

ByAlex Strauss

Construction workers and tradespeople who have worked at any of the U.S. Department of Energy’s  nuclear sites would do well to be aware of the early warning signs of cancer, including malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis. A new report prepared by the Center for Construction Research and Training and Duke University finds that people who worked at the DOE’s nuclear sites are at higher risk of death from “all causes, all cancers” and should be actively monitored for signs of disease. The research was based on data from the Building Trades National Medical Screening Program, a program established in 1996 to provide occupational medicine screening exams to construction workers employed at DOE nuclear facilities. More than 18,800 workers were monitored from…

asbestos ban
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Asbestos Bans Influenced by Mesothelioma ‘Visibility’

ByAlex Strauss

Why have some countries banned asbestos while others have not? A team of Korean researchers studying the question says it is likely influenced by perception of mesothelioma risk as well as what neighboring countries are doing. Medical authorities around the world agree that the mineral asbestos is directly linked to development of mesothelioma, a virulent cancer of the linings around organs. Most often found in the pleura encasing the lungs, mesothelioma is usually the result of on-the-job exposure to asbestos dust. Asbestos was once widely used in a variety of construction materials, including wallboard, paint, floor and ceiling tiles and cement blocks. Even in countries where asbestos is now banned, the presence of the material in existing buildings can pose a mesothelioma…

Challenges and Promises for Mesothelioma Gene Therapy
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Challenges and Promises for Mesothelioma Gene Therapy

ByAlex Strauss

A new report in the medical journal Cancer Gene Therapy says treatments that are based on genetic manipulation with the aid of modified viruses may be the wave of the future for combatting malignant pleural mesothelioma. The report comes from scientists at the Chiba Cancer Center Research Institute and Chiba University Medical School in Japan, where the incidence of mesothelioma is still increasing. Mesothelioma is an asbestos-linked cancer for which there is currently no standard cure. The Japanese team’s analysis of current global research on gene and virotherapy suggests that treatments that impact a particular genetic abnormality in the DNA of mesothelioma cells may have the greatest impact on the disease. They explain the process this way: “Preclinical studies targeting the…

Pakistan May Ban Asbestos to Reduce Mesothelioma
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Pakistan May Ban Asbestos to Reduce Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

Pakistan may be on the brink of banning the leading cause of mesothelioma. The mineral asbestos, used for decades in various industries, is believed to be responsible for nearly all cases of mesothelioma, an intractable cancer of the linings around organs. Now, the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Resource Development in Pakistan is recommending that the use and importation of asbestos be permanently banned in the country. The committee made the recommendation after a series of hearings on asbestos and its link to mesothelioma. Federal Human Resource Secretary Raja Ahsan told the committee that asbestos presents a “major threat” for mesothelioma and cancer among Pakistan’s industrial workers. Asbestos consumption continues to rise in Pakistan; One study shows that the figure…

Asbestosis vs. Mesothelioma: Early Exposure May Make the Difference
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Asbestosis vs. Mesothelioma: Early Exposure May Make the Difference

ByAlex Strauss

British researchers studying occupational deaths in England and Wales may have found a way to explain why some people exposed to asbestos develop asbestosis while others developmesothelioma. Although both diseases are caused primarily by occupational exposure to asbestos, the new study published in a British medical journal suggests that heavier exposure earlier in life may be more likely to cause asbestosis than mesothelioma. The researchers based their results on an exhaustive study of 33,751 mesothelioma deaths and 5396 asbestosis deaths. Death rates were plotted by age group. Because mesothelioma can take decades to develop, it was not surprising that death rates for both diseases were much higher among the oldest birth cohorts. But what was a surprise is that the…

Asbestosis and Mesothelioma Rates Remain High in Louisiana
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Asbestosis and Mesothelioma Rates Remain High in Louisiana

ByAlex Strauss

A new report has some discouraging health news for the residents of Louisiana: Their risk of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases remains higher than residents of other states, despite an increase in asbestos regulation. In a recent study of the chronic, debilitating lung disease, asbestosis, researchers in the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals note that the state has more facilities that produce, process or use asbestos than any other state in the US. Like mesothelioma, a deadly cancer of internal body membranes, asbestosis is caused by inhaling or ingesting asbestos fibers. “As a condition highly associated with occupational exposure, its incidence has been affected by changes in industry standards,” the authors write in the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical…

Mesothelioma Risk in Consumer Products
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Mesothelioma Risk in Consumer Products

ByAlex Strauss

Tremolite asbestos is a non-commercial form of amphibole mineral found in some chrysotile, talc and vermiculite deposits.  Like all forms of asbestos, it carries the risk of asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.  Although people who live or work around asbestos mines or work directly with asbestos-containing products are at greatest risk, tremolite may also pose a mesothelioma risk to consumers. A recent study by a California firm called ChemRisk is warning that hundreds of consumer products contain mesothelioma-causing tremolite.  To get an idea just how great the mesothelioma risk is, the group looked at the exposure-response relationship in two high-asbestos environments – the Thetford chrysotile mine in Canada and the vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana.  For people working in these…

GM Mesothelioma Claims May Rise
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GM Mesothelioma Claims May Rise

ByAlex Strauss

Creditors of the bankrupt remains of General Motors have won the right to estimate just how much the company could have to pay out to mesothelioma victims in the coming years. Like many car manufacturers, GM used asbestos as part of the brake linings in its vehicles for years.  This encapsulated asbestos poses a serious health hazard, including the potential for malignant mesothelioma, to anyone who disturbs it by working on those brakes.  Because brake work can release deadly asbestos dust into the air where it can be easily inhaled, auto mechanics are at risk for asbestos-related diseases, including not only mesothelioma, but also asbestosis and lung cancer. Because of this danger, GM is no stranger to asbestos-related lawsuits and mesothelioma claims. …

Power Plants Workers at High Risk for Mesothelioma
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Power Plants Workers at High Risk for Mesothelioma

ByAlex Strauss

A new German study has confirmed what thousands of power plants workers already know: their exposure to asbestos on the job puts them at high risk for malignant mesothelioma. Because of its heat resistant properties, asbestos was used for many years as an insulator around hot power plants turbines, wires and other sensitive equipment.  Thousands of power plants workers have come in contact with the material on a daily basis, in some cases, for decades. In the newest study on the risk of mesothelioma among power plant workers, German researchers monitored 8,632 former or current power plant employees between 2002 and 2006 who worked with the large turbines.  The researchers took dust fibers from in and around the plants and found…

James Hardie’s Mesothelioma and Asbestos Legacy Continues
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James Hardie’s Mesothelioma and Asbestos Legacy Continues

ByAlex Strauss

Most Americans have never heard of a company called James Hardie, but to many Australians this name conjures up an enormous death toll from asbestos. It has been alleged that this company is responsible for thousands of past and future Australian deaths from mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Founded in Melbourne Australia in 1888 by James Hardie the company produced asbestos related products such as building products, insulation, and brake linings. In March 1987 it stopped manufacturing the asbestos containing products but, it was already too late. Mesothelioma and other asbestos related diseases have a long latency period from the time of asbestos exposure to disease diagnosis. Thousands of Australians who had worked for James Hardie or had come in…