mesothelioma risk

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    Mesothelioma Insurance Claims on the Rise

    ByAlex Strauss

    Insurance companies are seeing a rise in asbestos and mesothelioma insurance claims – even though the incidence of the disease has been gradually slowing. The Reuters News Agency is reporting that two major insurers – Hartford Financial and American International Group, Inc. (AIG) – have recently had to dramatically increase the amount of money they are holding in reserve for mesothelioma and other asbestos cases because of a higher number of claims in recent years.  The shift in funds meant a $290 million shortfall in earnings for Hartford Financial, making investors nervous about the company’s stability.  AIG worried its shareholders by moving $4.1 billion into its reserve fund. For decades before the link to mesothelioma and other illnesses was made known, asbestos…

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    Employer ‘Duty-Bound’ to Protect Families from Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    People who contract mesothelioma or other asbestos diseases because of second hand exposure to asbestos through a company’s employee, have a right to hold the company accountable. An appellate court in Illinois made the decision after hearing the case of a woman who got mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, after years of washing her husband’s contaminated work clothes. Annette Simpkins brought suit against the CSX Corporation, claiming that she got sick because of repeatedly handling the toxic fibers while doing laundry. Her husband, Robert Simpkins, was a steelworker, welder, railroad fireman and laborer for CSX’s predecessor, B & O Railroad.  When Annette Simpkins died in April 2007, her daughter Cynthia took over as plaintiff. The mineral asbestos, used for…

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    Wall Covering May Prevent Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A British company has developed a way to help protect construction workers and building occupants from the threat of mesothelioma, a cancer caused by asbestos.  Birmingham, England-based Datatecnics has released the world’s first asbestos-sensing film.  When walls containing asbestos are papered with the polymer, an alarm will sound if the film is breached. In an interview with Electronics Weekly, Datatecnics CEO Mohammed Zulfiquar explains, “Asbestos is in a lot of public buildings. The Government estimates that 70 percent of UK schools contain it and the guidance from the Health and Safety Executive is to manage most of it, not remove it.” Asbestos has long been linked to mesothelioma, a malignancy affecting the membranous tissue encasing internal organs.  Asbestos was once commonly…

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    Tornado Aftermath: Possible Mesothelioma Risk

    ByAlex Strauss

    Environmental officials are warning that this spring’s rash of severe weather across the Midwest and South could raise the risk of asbestos exposure, mesothelioma and other lung conditions among people involved in the cleanup. Mesothelioma is the rarest of a range of illnesses that can be triggered by exposure to asbestos fibers.  Asbestos was a common component in wall, pipe and attic insulation, roof products, floor tiles, acoustical ceiling tiles, joint compounds, drywall and even paints – especially in homes built before the 1970’s.   Insulation containing asbestos was sold until 1990.  Once asbestos is disturbed and the fibers become airborne, anyone in the vicinity is at greater risk for asbestos caused diseases like mesothelioma. After the dangers of asbestos exposure came to…

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    Proteins May Hold Key to Mesothelioma Susceptibility

    ByAlex Strauss

    Altered cellular proteins may reveal clues as to why some people exposed to asbestos get mesothelioma, while others don’t. That is the conclusion of new research conducted in China. Asbestos has long been known to cause mesothelioma, but the mechanisms by which it does so remain largely a mystery. For instance, scientists have been at a loss to say why some people can work around asbestos for years with no ill effects, while others with the same level of exposure contract malignant mesothelioma. Understanding why this happens may not only help predict who is at higher risk, but may also give doctors new targets for treatments. Now, research from China is shedding new light on the subject. The researchers focused…

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    Mesothelioma Risk May Decline in Libby

    ByAlex Strauss

    A small bit of good news for the beleaguered town of Libby, Montana where mesothelioma has become a household word.  Declared a Superfund site by the EPA in 1999 because of high levels of asbestos from its vermiculite mines, Libby has been the site of the massive cleanup operation ever since.  According to the latest report, the EPA claims that the air in Libby is mostly safe to breath. Asbestos is known to cause mesothelioma, as well as asbestosis, lung cancer, and other serious lung disorders.  Libby’s high levels of asbestos, which spewed into the air from the mines and settled like dust across the town for more than 40 years, touched off a rash of mesothelioma cases, bringing it to…

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    Mesothelioma Causing Mine May Reopen in Canada

    ByAlex Strauss

    Mine that causes mesothelioma will probably stay open. A spokesman for the Canadian Cancer Society says his organization is “deeply disappointed” that the government of Quebec has decided in favor of helping the Jeffrey asbestos mine stay in operation. According to Canadian media reports, the government has agreed to the $58 million dollar loan guarantee that was needed to help secure international funding and keep the chrysotile asbestos mine open. But the Canadian Cancer Society, the Canadian Medical Association, and other health organizations had argued vehemently against the move, citing evidence that asbestos causes deadly malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is caused by asbestos exposure. Not only are Canadians who work or live around the Jeffrey mine in Quebec at risk for…

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    Mesothelioma Rare in the Pre-Asbestos Age

    ByAlex Strauss

    If there was any doubt about the direct causal connection between asbestos and the aggressive cancer known as mesothelioma, a new report published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine should put it to rest for good. Researchers from the Department of Pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York analyzed the data on the incidence of malignant pleural mesothelioma prior to the widespread commercial use of asbestos.  Although most mesothelioma is known to be linked to occupational asbestos exposure, the scientific community has been divided about whether or not mesothelioma can occur, even without a triggering irritant like asbestos. To answer the question, the team analyzed 2,025 autopsies performed at Mount Sinai Hospital between 1883 and 1910, prior…

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    Lung Tissue Fibers Can Help Identify Mesothelioma

    ByAlex Strauss

    A team of German researchers says examination of lung tissue for minute fibers of asbestos can be a valuable way to identify asbestos-related lung diseases like mesothelioma – especially when it has been many years since the exposure. Asbestos inhalation is the number one cause of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a fast-growing and deadly cancer that starts in the thin tissue that encases the lungs.  But, because it can take 20 to 40 years for mesothelioma to develop, it is not always easy to link a patient’s lung problems to their asbestos exposure.  Patients may have forgotten the exposure, or may not even be aware of it, as is sometimes the case with people who have had secondhand exposure to asbestos. In such…

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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…