Asbestos Cement Factory Still Impacting Lives in Italy
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Asbestos Cement Factory Still Impacting Lives in Italy

ByAlex Strauss

Residents who worked in or lived near an asbestos cement factory in Italy are still suffering the effects of toxic pollution decades later.  Separate studies in two environmental health journals this month highlight the ongoing problem. Both show there are more mesothelioma cases in these regions than in the rest of Italy. This is true even though Italy banned asbestos 30 years ago. One study concentrates on people who worked in an asbestos cement factory. The other focuses on mesothelioma patients whose only exposure was through air pollution near a factory  The Deadly Legacy of Asbestos in Broni The Fibronit asbestos cement company operated plants in Bari and Broni, Italy.  Broni is a town of about 9.000 people. The asbestos…

Are Women More Vulnerable to Mesothelioma from Environmental Asbestos?
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Are Women More Vulnerable to Mesothelioma from Environmental Asbestos?

ByAlex Strauss

Although the study did find an elevated number of mesothelioma cases among plant workers, the biggest mesothelioma burden was among their spouses and other women who lived in the region. Almost half of the mesothelioma cases linked to the factory could be attributed to environmental, rather than occupational, exposure. Researchers with the Department of Preventive Medicine in Milan and the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London calculated mesothelioma incidence connected to an asbestos cement factory that operated in Broni, Italy from 1932 to 1993. Their goal was to compare the percentage of cases among the workers themselves with the number of cases among their families and those who simply lived near the plant. Data was collected between…