The Northern Ireland General Register Office, the province’s record keeper, said that mesothelioma and asbestosis were the primary or secondary causes of some 75 deaths annually.
In little more than five years, there have been more than 300 estimated deaths in Northern Ireland from asbestos exposure, according to a U.TV article, citing a recent government report.
This government report also suggests there were possibly another 40 lung cancer deaths each year where asbestosis or mesothelioma were contributing factors. Mesothelioma is a rare and deadly disease that destroys the linings of the heart, lungs or abdomen. Exposure to asbestos is nearly always the cause of mesothelioma. And asbestosis is specifically a lung disease caused by inhaling asbestos.
The situation is serious were unlike the United States which phased out asbestos in building materials in the 1980s, asbestos continued to be used in Northern Ireland until about 2000. The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) organization predicts the current number of deaths to rise. It has organized free training called “Asbestos Training Pledge NI” as a response to help local construction workers protect themselves from asbestos exposure.
Asbestos is a fibrous mineral once used extensively in building materials because of its high tensile strength, durability, high availability, and low cost. Given its’ early widespread adoption in the United States, asbestos continues to be a problem there as well. Since the 1970s, research has linked asbestos exposure definitively to multiple painful and deadly diseases, such as mesothelioma.
Many manufacturers knew their asbestos products posed serious health risks, but some hid this information from both their workers and the public. Have you or a loved one developed mesothelioma after exposure to asbestos while at a workplace? If so, then call a Lawyer who is an expert in Mesothelioma and Asbestosis, and ask them for a free legal consultation about a potential mesothelioma lawsuit.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified asbestos as a “carcinogen” which causes lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestosis.
“Instead of going about it in phases, India needs to completely ban mining, trade, manufacturing and use of all forms of asbestos-based products,” …
Asbestos banning
Given the health hazards that asbestos poses and the fact that International Maritime Organisation (IMO), of which India is a member state since 1959, has banned installation of all types of asbestos-containing materials as of January 1, 2011, activists have expressed “shock and surprise” over India’s willingness to accept use of asbestos in the aircraft carrier’s insulation in the boiler section.
“Though India has banned mining of asbestos, its use has not been completely stopped. Chrysotile, the most common form of asbestos, is a fibrous substance which is mixed with cement to create a fire-retardant mixture that is applied to corrugated sheets and pipes.”
A burglar may have gotten more than he bargained for when he entered a building that was under renovation, intent on stealing tools left behind by the contractors doing the renovation work. What the bandit didn’t realize, however, was that the house on James Street in Syracuse, NY was filled with airborne asbestos.
According to the Syracuse Post-Standard New York Newspaper, the criminal – whose name was not released – gained access to the building by knocking a 3 foot by 3 foot hole in a brick wall. A police report stated that he most likely didn’t observe the warning signs that were placed around the structure noting that asbestos removal was taking place inside. The doors and windows were all boarded up with plywood.
Bill McHale, foreman for Conifer-LeChase Construction of Syracuse, NY, the company performing the asbestos abatement, told the media that there are safe areas and containment areas within the building, and it was evident that the robber had entered into a containment area after breaking into the house through the wall. The police were told by Mr. McHale that the containment area is “extremely dangerous” and full of asbestos dust, and that the burglar has put his health at serious risk for having entered the asbestos dust part of the building.
While the burglar has escaped with several pieces of electric equipment, gas-powered equipment, ladders, scrap wire and copper, he probably inhaled significant portions of dangerous, sharp asbestos fibers, that may very well become imbedded in his lungs which eventually will cause mesothelioma cancer. Many people develop this cancer after years of exposure to the toxic mineral in the workplace, such as in factories and shipyards, but doctors and researchers have determined that even the smallest amount of asbestos exposure can lead to the development of cancerous tumors.
The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in response to allegations that the Agency has authorized the use of unapproved methods to demolish buildings containing asbestos, has issued a warning reiterating previous findings that “asbestos is a human carcinogen with no safe level of exposure.” Inspector General Arthur A. Elkins Jr. adds, “Asbestos exposure can lead to serious diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma.”
Mesothelioma and other respiratory diseases result when asbestos is improperly managed. When asbestos fibers and dust become airborne they can put pedestrians and residents occupying areas near a demolition project at high risk of contracting a deadly, asbestos-related illnesses. For that reason, experienced and certified contractors should always be hired to carry-out any asbestos abatement projects.
The EPA in 1974 issued asbestos management standards to protect human health from the adverse effects of exposure to asbestos, particularly when demolition of buildings is removing asbestos. These standards demand that special trained technicians remove materials that contain asbestos prior to demolition except when a building is structurally unsafe to enter. This is to mitigate the possibility that asbestos material will become dust particles being airborne and breathed by humans. Inhalation of asbestos particles causes mesothelioma cancer 20 to 50 years after exposure.
But according to the recent December 2011 report, even the EPA has not complied with the guidelines it produced in 1974. The EPA has allowed unapproved asbestos removal methods to be used or considered at multiple demolition sites. These construction sites including the Hanford Superfund Site (near Richland, Washington) and a gaseous diffusion plant in Paducah, Kentucky are examples of two locations where questionable removal methods have been used, or are proposed to be used.
The EPA report states:
The current and proposed use of unapproved methods may jeopardize the health and safety of the public.
EPA Inspector General, Mr. Elkins says:
The use of unapproved methods is counter to EPA regulations, and the EPA should retract any approval for the use of alternative asbestos removal methods that deviate from the recognized standards.
Why? Because asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a disease that kills between 2,500 and 3,000 people in the U.S. each year. Symptoms of mesothelioma, such as shortness of breath and chest pains, may take as many as 20 to 50 years to develop which is frequently a stage three or later. Once diagnosed, mesothelioma progresses rapidly.
The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America was founded in 2001 with a mission: fund research that leads to the quickest and surest cure for mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. This cancer disease had few treatment options until this MesoRFA.org and Dr. Parkash Gill’s work created better treatment options. Today, the future looks more hopeful for additional improved treatment options available to those stricken by this cancer.
Submit your mesothelioma questions to Ask Dr. Parkash Gill to receive the oncologist’s Free response and opinion.
National Asbestos Awareness Week will begin this year the first week of April. Non-profit groups like the Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America (MesoRFA) and the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) use this week to increase public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and the mesothelioma treatments available for the cancer caused by asbestos particle inhalation.
On March 9, 2011, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and cosponsors introduced and passed US Senate Resolution 63 – 112th Congress. This resolution (SR-63) designates the first week of April 2011 as National Asbestos Awareness Week. It urges the Surgeon General to warn and educate people about asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health. Senator Baucus began his crusade to abolish asbestos use in 1999 when he wrote a letter to then Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala requesting immediate medical help and assistance for his home state area of Libby, Montana. Libby is a city that no one wants to live in because 1 in 8 residents has some kind of asbestos related ailments and estimates put the number of deaths related to asbestos mining at over 200. The city once boomed from the mining of vermiculite (an asbestos containing mineral) but now it has a growing number of the town’ residents being sickened by asbestos released in the air. The mine has been closed since 1990.
In 2002 EPA investigators found Libby, Montana to be contaminated with asbestos and began the process of containing the city. The EPA attempted to declare a Public Health Emergency in Libby that was thwarted by the previous Federal Government Administration’s Office of Management and Budget. Senator Baucus reported this failure in 2008, and on June 17, 2009, due in large part to Baucus’ reporting efforts, the EPA finally declared its first ever public health emergency in Libby, Montana.
Groups like MesoRFA and ADOA combine medical research, public and patient education, family advocacy and community support to compel a national and global rallying outcry for all nations to abolish asbestos mining and its use in manufactured products. Additionally, the groups seek to increase public awareness of the suffering experienced by patients with mesothelioma with the hope to fund research and find the quickest cure to this cancer disease caused by exposure to asbestos.
Asbestos is a carcinogen to humans and exposure to it can cause diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis. Research and studies from the World Health Organization (2004) provide estimates about asbestos-related disease from occupational exposure. Their results counted 107,000 deaths and 1,523,000 DALYs where a Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY) is defined as the measure of overall disease burden expressed as the number of years lost due to ill-health, disability or early death. Other studies estimate during the next decade around the world there will be 300 deaths per day from asbestos related disease.
The ADOA will be having their 7th Annual Asbestos Awareness Conference (April 1 – 3, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia) and will bring leading international experts together to discuss the impact of asbestos on public health, the environment, and the economy. This organization seeks to give asbestos victims and concerned citizens a united voice to raise public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure. It is an independent global organization with a mission dedicated to stop asbestos use and preventing asbestos-related.
The MesoRFA compliments the ADOA objectives with their mission to fund medical research leading to the quickest cure for mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. This cancer disease had few treatment options until recent research work created better options for mesothelioma treatments with the drug, Veglin. Today, the future looks very hopeful with improved treatment to those stricken by asbestos-caused mesothelioma cancer.
Many oncologists project the average post-diagnostic malignant mesothelioma survival time in sufferers is between one and two years. Also, traditional mesothelioma treatments have had no success in eradicating the disease and have produced limited success in extending a patient’s survival time. Therefore, new and experimental mesothelioma treatments have become increasingly popular as an option for cancer sufferers.
A new approach in finding a mesothelioma cure is a drug called Veglin being studied by Dr. Gill at the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. Veglin is one of several newly developed non-chemotherapy drugs being tested in the ongoing struggle to combat malignant mesothelioma. The new drug is an anti-angiogenesis agent that works by cutting off the blood supply that cancer cells need in order to grow. Veglin is currently in the last part of Phase II Clinical Trials with the FDA and Phase III trials should begin sometime in 2011. Mesothelioma sufferers interested in taking part in the next clinical trial should talk with their doctor, and are encouraged to contact Dr. Parkash Gill for more information on Veglin and the trials to be had nationally.
Everyone is encouraged to participate in the national observation of Asbestos Awareness Week. Like the American Cancer Society, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) and non-profit groups like the Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America (MesoRFA) and the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), let us all use this week to increase public awareness about the dangers of asbestos exposure and available mesothelioma treatments, because everyone wants to see less cancer and more birthdays!
The Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America along with the Canadian Medical Association, the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), and several other anti-asbestos campaigners are calling on the Quebec Government not to provide loan guarantees to a consortium who intend to restore Canada’s dying asbestos export industry.
Exposure to asbestos has proven since the 1960’s and 70’s to be the leading cause of a specific lung cancer called Mesothelioma. Diagnosis of having this deadly disease is almost always a painful, death sentence. For example, as the effects of asbestos on workers from the United Kingdom who were exposed in the 60’s and 70’s continue to manifest, records show deaths from mesothelioma have increased from 895 in 1990 to 2,249 in 2008. There is no indication of this declining, and this trend is beginning to be recognized in other high-income nations who used asbestos products including the United States.
Let our voice be heard and we ask you to join us in the call for Social Responsibility by all nations in supporting a ban on asbestos and its export. (Click the LIKE and SHARE buttons on our web site, and let FaceBook tell-your-friends).
The Next Attack on Neighbors who were near the World Trade Center on 9/11
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All the first responders to the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 as well as the entire population of lower Manhattan and surrounding boroughs who inhaled the dust created by the collapse of those two buildings are at high risk of attack by getting an insidious disease!
Ground Zero: the Twin Towers burn after the attack of 9/11/2001 before the Statue of Liberty
What disease is most associated with extreme exposure to and inhalation of asbestos dust? Mesothelioma Cancer!
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The terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11 caused much devastation and loss of life. Only now is it being revealed that there is a pending second attack to come upon many people with a long-term, painful consequence and continuous devastation.
Mesothelioma is an insidious lung cancer which is frequently found in people who have been exposed to asbestos particle dust. The risk of getting mesothelioma has significantly increased for the many people who were first responders to the World Trade Center attack of 9/11, as well as the immediate human population occupying lower Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs because they inhaled the asbestos dust particles created by the collapse of those great, two buildings.
Asbestos is an organic fibrous mineral that has been commonly used for years in construction projects for its fireproofing qualities and as thermal insulation as well as other applications. The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center were built in 1966 through 1971 when asbestos usage and sales where at their highest. There is now a growing body of evidence with estimates that the World Trade Center construction project called for the use of 5,000 tons of asbestos fireproofing-materials. Fortunately, the contractors for building the Twin Towers project discontinued use of asbestos-containing insulation when they came to know about the hazards and health risks of asbestos. The understanding about asbestos and how it causes mesothelioma was just beginning. As this realization occurred, the contractors had completed only 64 of the 110-stories in the two towers. While a portion of the asbestos material scheduled to be put into the buildings was stopped, current estimates are that 2,000 tons of asbestos remained within the buildings that became a giant particle dust cloud covering the neighborhood at the time of the 9/11 attack.
When destroyed or disturbed, asbestos becomes a problem in that its fibers become airborne where they are easily inhaled or ingested. The microscopic asbestos fibers are sharp and needle-like which penetrate the body’s soft tissues. The pleural cavity with the lungs is especially vulnerable with its special membrane called the mesothelium. The mesothelium protects the lungs, heart and abdominal area. But the carcinogenic characteristic of asbestos frequently leads to malignant mesothelioma and other diseases.
All eye witness accounts seen on television and by everyone who was near the World Trade Center when the towers collapsed knows, there were giant, thick clouds of pollution and debris covering the lower end of Manhattan. The location where the two towers stood is now called Ground Zero and was covered by particle dust and debris. There are estimates set at 600,000 as the number of people exposed to the cloud of asbestos contaminants. In addition to the asbestos contaminants, there was heavy metal in the dust like mercury, zinc, lead and barium. These dust particles remained in the air and on surfaces for weeks after this tragic event for everyone to inhale and be exposed to. It was discovered that a shirt worn by a response worker at Ground Zero had 93,000 times more asbestos stuck in it than found in the average air concentration of major cities.
The people who escaped the collapsing buildings and the first responders who rushed toward the fallen buildings in a valiant attempt to help others have received a high level of exposure to asbestos. Some of the first responders who were summoned to the scene were equipped with respirators and protective clothing, such as the many firefighters.
This fireman sucks in a lot of dangerous dust in his effort to lead more help.
However, the majority of people near this event did not have any protection from asbestos inhalation. This includes onlookers, police, health-care providers, volunteers, employees for the many companies who occupied the World Trade Center and of course all the people in businesses near the attack site who attempted to escape the catastrophe. Imagine running and breathing in that contaminated dust with every effort made to escape with your life!
Repeated exposure or high levels of exposure to asbestos has been proven to be directly associated with mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma has a delayed latency period before it reveals itself and therefore afflicted people do not exhibit mesothelioma symptoms for years, sometimes decades after their exposure to asbestos. This is very troublesome for everyone near the Twin Towers at the time of the attack that got exposed to the dust cloud.
People can live with mesothelioma cancer and have no clue until a diagnosis is eventually made which could be 40 or more years after inhaling the asbestos fibers. There is no way at this time to know exactly how many of the responders, rescue personnel and bystanders contracted mesothelioma because the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11 is so recent.
Many first responders and people living in the neighborhood of Ground Zero will eventually have Mesothelioma like this image.
Many of the symptoms for mesothelioma are difficult to distinguish from other, more common lung ailments. These include difficult breathing, wheezing or coughing, and chest pain only to mention a few key symptoms. Therefore, the estimated number of 9/11 victims suffering with mesothelioma can only be speculative at this time. There are recent statistics concerning the health problems of those who were near or at Ground Zero during the terrorist attacks.
For example, in 2008 the New York State Department of Health estimated that 200 people died from exposure to the pollutants at Ground Zero. At least 55 of those cases were victims of lung cancer. As many as 62 percent of the people exposed to the contaminant filled dust cloud have reported experiencing respiratory problems created from the 9/11 attacks.
People diagnosed with mesothelioma have a few options for treatment, including surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and palliative care. The sooner mesothelioma is diagnosed, better are the chances for treatment to effectively stop the disease. If you or someone you know was at the Twin Towers scene during the attacks or within weeks thereafter, please encourage them to become mesothelioma aware and have a doctor immediately screen them for this insidious, deadly cancer.
You will find much more information regarding mesothelioma, the history of asbestos, and a list of existing therapies as well as new clinical trials for new treatments at our central web site: Mesothelioma Research Foundation of America – www.mesorfa.org
Dr. Parkash S. Gill, MD, Oncologist
Our clinical oncologist and lead research director will freely answer your questions, too.
Ask Dr. Gill about mesothelioma and his upcoming Phase III clinical trial of Veglin, a non-chemotherapy treatment. Just click on his Ask Dr. Gill link to send your question, now!
One gets mesothelioma from being exposed to asbestos. So prevention for getting the disease is choosing to avoid exposure to asbestos and eliminating sources of asbestos to be exposed to. Asbestos is not gone from the environment or workplace even after the many limitations that have been placed on its use. Asbestos has not been banned in the United States even though there has been a growing body of medical research, cancer cases, and well documented dangers at it.
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) issued a ruling on July 12, 1989 to ban nearly all products containing asbestos.
US Court of Appeals says the EPA can not ban all asbestos products
But in 1991 this rule was overturned by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and consequently only the following six specific asbestos-containing product categories remain banned; many other products containing asbestos continue to be sold and manufactured today in the U.S.:
Everybody who has been exposed to asbestos may develop mesothelioma. An estimated 3 million employees in construction and general industry face significant asbestos exposure on the job, even though the average asbestos levels in buildings today seem to be very low.
Asbestos was used as a fire retardant
The more exposure one has one has to asbestos, the greater the risk of having mesothelioma cancer. Work environments are the primary source where people get exposed to asbestos and later in life develop the disease.
The greatest exposures to workers are in construction trades. Asbestos was used in building insulation, cement, automobile brakes, roofing shingles, flooring, piping and this is a small sample. So many workers were exposed during the manufacturing of asbestos products. Asbestos-related illness is also occurring in shipyard workers, school custodians, miners, railroad workers and even movie set workers.
