Soil Mineral Linked to Mesothelioma Deaths in Mexico
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Soil Mineral Linked to Mesothelioma Deaths in Mexico

ByAlex Strauss

Concerns continue to grow over the health threat posed by a mineral called erionite. There is new evidence that erionite dust may be responsible for the elevated mesothelioma and lung cancer death rates in a remote Mexican village. Malignant mesothelioma is usually caused by exposure to asbestos, a naturally-occurring fibrous mineral that was once heavily used in several industries. While the lungs can typically rid themselves of other types of irritants, asbestos dust fibers are small and sharp and tend to lodge in the tissue, causing cancer years later. In recent years, a less prevalent but similarly-shaped mineral called erionite has been suspected of doing the same thing. Mesothelioma rates hundreds of times higher than average have been found in…

Brief, Indirect Exposure Leads to Mesothelioma in Young Woman
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Brief, Indirect Exposure Leads to Mesothelioma in Young Woman

ByAlex Strauss

A new report contains some disturbing news about just how little asbestos exposure it may take to cause malignant mesothelioma. Radiologists in New Delhi, India have published details of a case of mesothelioma in a young woman who experienced only very limited asbestos exposure as a child. According to the article in the Journal of Clinical Imaging Science, the young woman was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma after complaining of chest pain and breathlessness. X-rays and CT scans revealed that, not only was she suffering from the asbestos cancer, but that it had also spread to her liver and lungs. A biopsy of one of the tumors confirmed the diagnosis. In addition to being much younger than most mesothelioma patients,…

Unexpected Mesothelioma Deaths in Fiberglass Workers Raise Questions
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Unexpected Mesothelioma Deaths in Fiberglass Workers Raise Questions

ByAlex Strauss

A team of scientists with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have good news and bad news for people exposed to styrene and fiberglass in the boatbuilding industry. The good news is that the workers tested do not appear to be at higher risk for the blood cancers leukemia or lymphoma.  The bad news is that, for reasons that are not fully understood, they do appear to have a higher chance of getting malignant pleural mesothelioma or ovarian cancer. The NIOSH team in Cincinnati examined the causes of death through 2008 of 5,203 workers at two boatbuilding plants in Washington state. The workers had all been exposed to styrene, fiberglass, and wood dust between 1959 and 1978. Styrene…

Man-Made Fiber May Compound Mesothelioma Risk from Asbestos
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Man-Made Fiber May Compound Mesothelioma Risk from Asbestos

ByAlex Strauss

Workers exposed to both asbestos and another insulation material called refractory ceramic fiber (RCF) are more than 4 times as likely to develop malignant pleural mesothelioma as are workers who were only exposed to asbestos. That is the conclusion of a new study from a team of French scientists at the University of Bordeaux. Asbestos, a fibrous mineral used in insulation and building materials, has been known for decades to increase the risk of mesothelioma. RCF is a manmade aluminum-silicate-based material that is also used for insulation, particularly in high-heat industrial applications. Although some animal studies on RCF have suggested that the material might also cause cancer, a 2012 study in Inhalation Toxicology found no increase in lung cancer or…

Using Cancer Statistics to Prioritize Mesothelioma Research
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Using Cancer Statistics to Prioritize Mesothelioma Research

ByAlex Strauss

New cancer statistics from Quebec, Canada suggest that mesothelioma should be a research priority for scientists looking into work-related illnesses. Quebec was once Canada’s heaviest producer and exporter of asbestos, the number one worldwide cause of deadly malignant pleural mesothelioma. In recent years, the number of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer and pleural plaques have been steadily rising and some Canadian health experts warn that the country is poised for a health crisis because of its close ties with the asbestos industry. But exact numbers of work-related cancer cases are not easy to find. Researchers from the Canada School of Public Health at the University of Montreal attempted to estimate the number of work-related cancer cases and…

Industrial Chemical Found to Raise Mesothelioma Risk in Rats
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Industrial Chemical Found to Raise Mesothelioma Risk in Rats

ByAlex Strauss

There is new evidence that a chemical used to produce flexible films like Saran Wrap may increase the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma by damaging the immune system and increasing inflammation. About 80 percent of mesothelioma cases are the result of exposure to asbestos, a fibrous mineral once popular as a flame retardant and insulator. But a newly-published study suggests that an industrial chemical called vinylidene chloride (VDC) may account for a portion of the remaining 20 percent of non-asbestos mesothelioma cases. NIH scientists in North Carolina’s Research Triangle Park conducted the 2-year study as part of a National Toxicology Program effort to determine the cancer risk associated with certain chemicals. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, VDC is used…

Mesothelioma Remains a Serious Risk for Shipbreaking Workers
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Mesothelioma Remains a Serious Risk for Shipbreaking Workers

ByAlex Strauss

Taiwanese researchers who conducted one of the few long-term studies of cancer among shipbreaking workers are calling for more “preventive measures” to protect these workers from deadly malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most serious of a group of diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Fire- and heat-resistant asbestos was commonly used to insulate ships starting in the 1920s, long before its health risks became public knowledge. People who now work to dismantle and demolish these old ships run the risk of encountering crumbling asbestos and raising their lifetime risk of mesothelioma. Noting that shipbreaking remains one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, public health and occupational medicine experts from several Taiwanese universities studied cancer incidence among more than 4,000 shipbreaking…

Mesothelioma Risk is Rarely Outlived
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Mesothelioma Risk is Rarely Outlived

ByAlex Strauss

If you have been exposed to asbestos, whether at work or in the home, you may never outlive your risk of developing malignant mesothelioma. That unsettling finding comes from a recently-published medical stud conducted by researchers in Australia and Italy. Mesothelioma has a particularly long latency period, meaning it is not uncommon for it to take decades for this aggressive cancer to develop. To determine if asbestos-exposed individuals can ever consider themselves out of danger, the researchers compiled and analyzed data from eight separate previous studies on the relationship between asbestos exposure and mesothelioma development. Six of the studies focused on people with occupational exposure to the deadly toxin and the remaining two included people with residential asbestos exposure. Among…

Carbon Nanotubes: A New Cause of Mesothelioma?
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Carbon Nanotubes: A New Cause of Mesothelioma?

ByAlex Strauss

There is some unsettling news out of China for people who work with or around multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are carbon-based synthetic molecules in the shape of concentric tubes. Their special shape makes them more resistant to chemicals than other types of carbon nanotubes and makes them valuable for use in electronics, optics, textiles and other areas of manufacturing. But Chinese researchers say these tiny particles, like the sharp particles of naturally-occurring asbestos, have the potential to cause mesothelioma in people who inhale them. Lead researchers Jiegou Xu of the Anhui Medical University College of Basic Medical Sciences in Hefei, China and his colleagues exposed laboratory rats to two different kinds of MWCNTs with disturbing results. Suspensions…

Study Finds Higher Risk with Mesothelioma EPP Surgery
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Study Finds Higher Risk with Mesothelioma EPP Surgery

ByAlex Strauss

Yet another team of researchers is weighing in on the ongoing debate over the different kinds of surgery for malignant pleural mesothelioma and the news is not good for patients considering the most invasive approach. The newest study involved thoracic surgeons from Stanford University and UCLA, Cardiothoracic surgeons from the University of Chicago and the University of Washington, and Biostatisticians from Duke University. Together, the researchers analyzed the outcomes of 225 mesothelioma patients from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons-General Thoracic Database who underwent either pleurectomy/decortication (P/D) or the more radical extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP). Pneumonectomy literally means removal of the lung. As the most invasive pleural mesothelioma surgical approach, EPP involves removing the entire pleural lining where mesothelioma starts, as well…