Mesothelioma Pages

In a press release on December 25^th, 2010, the 7^th Annual Asbestos Awareness Conference, Asbestos: Impact on Public Health, Environment, and the Economy, was announced. The conference will be held from April 1-3, 2011, in Atlanta, Georgia at the Marriott Buckhead Hotel & Conference Center and hosted by Asbestos Disease Awareness Origination (ADAO). ADAO is known as the largest national asbestos victims’ representative organization.

Topic choice for the 2011 conference is an appropriate one, as asbestos continues to make a considerable impact on public health, environment and economy. While recent US history shows a fall in asbestos use, its toxic qualities seem to reach through the past to compensate for the lull.

Once a giant in construction and manufacturing, asbestos has now become known as a safety hazard. As risks and dangers associated with the chemical were publicized and proved this key element of infrastructures in the US and countries around the world has become a frightening word.

Asbestos was used for decades in major American industries, particularly those of the military. As a fire retardant and strengthening additive, asbestos has been used in shipbuilding, munitions manufacturing, paint, cement, insulation, construction equipment and residential home amenities. Although the use of asbestos may have come to a grinding halt, there will now be years of clean up to follow.

The major risk of asbestos is its fibers, tiny particles which are known to cause severe respiratory conditions. Lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma can all develop from exposure to asbestos fibers. Mesothelioma is particularly associated with asbestos as its almost exclusive catalyst. Mesothelioma is a rare cancer affecting the lung lining. There are many mesothelioma treatments available, but no known cure.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Air Act describes regulations and responsibilities for asbestos use and removal. High standards are accompanied by high costs. Certified asbestos removal contractors are not cheap, and once asbestos has been found, there is no good way around removing it. With the threat of fibers being released into the air, and the costs associated with safely removing the materials, asbestos will continue to make an impact on public health, environment and economy.

The corner cutting of employer negligence and hazardous workplace asbestos exposure is also impacting the court systems. However, asbestos disease victims and widows are now, more than ever, privy to legal advisors educated in asbestos law and ready to fight the growing negative asbestos impact.

Hidenari Hane, a former Japanese mechanic, has won compensation in a mesothelioma lawsuit filed against Honda. Hane was employed at Honda during the 1960’s where he was exposed to the toxic chemical asbestos, which purportedly caused his case of mesothelioma cancer.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer most directly associated with asbestos exposure. Dust and fibers from asbestos materials are dangerous if inhaled; they are known to begin a mutation in lung and abdominal cavity lining which can lead to development of irregularly patterned malignant tumors.

Asbestos causes other serious respiratory conditions as well, including lung cancer and asbestosis. Mesothelioma, however, holds the record for most severe. An incurable cancer, mesothelioma carries a grim prognosis. Patients average an eighteen-month life expectancy following diagnosis. And diagnosis proves its own challenge; mesothelioma is often misdiagnosed as pneumonia or other curable conditions.

Health risks associated with asbestos exposure have been known in Japan since the 1960. Hane was exposed to asbestos on a regular basis for close to two years between April of 1968 and December of 1969. A Tokyo court ruled in his favor saying that Honda should have known better. Although asbestos regulations have been slow in application, the lawsuit stated that Honda knew to prevent employees from needless exposure and should have provided respiratory protection when exposure was necessary.

The case’s ruling Judge Koichiro Matsumoto said, “The risks of being exposed to asbestos had been known by the time the pneumoconiosis law was enacted in 1960 at the latest, and a major company like Honda should have been fully aware of the risks and the damages at the factory were foreseeable.”

Although health risks and dangers associated with asbestos have grown in Japan, many believe the country is headed for an ongoing battle to rid itself of asbestos. Following World War II, Japan rebuilt its industry and economy on the toxic building material, using it for shipbuilding, construction and several forms of manufacturing. For decades asbestos has been a major part of industrial growth. In 1974 alone, 350,000 metric tons of asbestos was imported by Japan.

Although there are methods in place for testing the safety of Japan’s asbestos containing building materials, scientists worldwide are claiming these methods to be unreliable. Adequate regulations are not implemented fast enough or enforced hard enough to make a great difference, as in the Honda/Hane case. It is expected that the mesothelioma death toll will rise to 100,000 in Japan by 2040 and many say it could be significantly higher.

Excavators recently unearthed an asbestos waste field in Australia’s Molonglo valley. Possibly holding 100,000 tons of asbestos material, the area was being excavated to begin development of a new suburban neighborhood. The project, which was backed by some government funding, has now come to a stand still as administrators consider the best options for moving forward.

Meanwhile, the Australian government continues battling a rising number of asbestos related illnesses, particularly asbestosis and the rare cancer mesothelioma. Funding is stretched between awareness campaigns, widow and family compensation, mass removal initiatives and mesothelioma treatment research. There have been no small disagreements as to when and where to focus efforts.

It is clear, however, that funding cannot be used to build a neighborhood on top of a toxic asbestos waste site. With work already started, projects leaders are wishing for a do-over. Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said, “I can’t walk away from the fact that these sorts of issues shouldn’t happen, they have and I’ll seek to ensure it won’t happen again.”

Creative solutions are hard to come by in such a situation, but David Dawes of Land and Property Service is hoping for one. “There’s quite good ways of dealing with that without the expense of pulling it all away and burying it in another hole,” he said. “So we can actually look at different solutions that we can overcome with that and minimise any cost blowouts of the project.”

In response to the find, Zed Seselja, leader of the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Opposition said, “This kind of gross incompetence I think again demonstrates some of the real problems that are going on in our planning system generally where agencies aren’t working together and this is the latest most significant example of that.”

Others involved claim there was no way to know the extent of the waste material without excavating. CEO of ACTPLA (ACT Planning and Land Authority), Neil Savery, said of the site: “It’s on the contaminated site register and that’s lead to investigations for the better part of five years. On the contaminated site register it’s essentially identified as a site of interested it doesn’t tell you exactly what’s there.” He continues, “We’ve done over 10 investigations to establish what’s in the ground, how extensive it is.”

Further development of the community has been stopped until at least middle of next year.

Millions of attics across America are insulated with an asbestos containing material. Popular in the 1950’s, insulations made with vermiculite were used throughout the country to help keep American families protected and comfortable. Although generally vermiculite materials were a good help in cutting back heating costs, one particular strand of vermiculite was set to do more harm than good.

A mine providing one insulation company with vermiculite materials was also laced with asbestos.  As the insulation was turned out and installed, so was the asbestos, in millions and millions of homes throughout America.

There is much concern today for potential risks associated with homes using this particular strand of asbestos containing vermiculite. Asbestos fibers are known to cause severe health conditions. About three thousand Americans die each year from mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive cancer that develops from asbestos fibers mutating cells of lung lining.

Dr. Aubrey Miller was the medical director for the Environmental Protection Agency’s team researching this tainted strand of vermiculite. “Based on my experience, and my understanding of the residential and worker exposures to the asbestos in this insulation, I believe firmly that individuals are being sickened and even dying from these exposures across the country on a continuing basis,” he said.

Dr. Miller responded to hundreds of asbestos related illness and deaths during his time with the EPA team. He is particularly concerned with asbestos dusts and fibers that may be brought down from attics on Christmas ornaments and decorations. “It’s particularly important to understand the risks for children who have higher breathing rates and will inhale more of the fibers,” he said. “Children, especially young ones, tend to spend much of their time on the floor playing with the ornaments and toys, breathing the asbestos-contaminated dust, and have many years for the asbestos fibers that lodge in their lungs to eventually cause disease.”

Much of the frustration surrounding this asbestos-vermiculite strand is directed toward the US government. Aware of the risks and millions potentially affected, the government has been non-responsive. Executive Director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, Joel Shufro, said, “I am amazed and appalled that nothing has happened.” He continued, “Failure of the government to inform workers and others who may be exposed to this hazard is incorrigible. This is a well-known, aggressive carcinogen and unless people know about it, it’s a prescription for death.”