Mesothelioma is a serious cancer that only occurs in individuals who have been exposed to asbestos. Mesothelioma victims have either inhaled or swallowed asbestos fibers. The number of new cases is staggering. Anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000 U.S. patients are diagnosed annually with mesothelioma and asbestos-related diseases.
Mesothelioma is not a lung cancer and is not caused by smoking. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelial cells. The asbestos fibers are breathed in by the victim and travel into the lungs, where they become lodged in the pleura, a thin Saran Wrap-like membrane. The pleura produces a special lubricating fluid that helps the lungs move inside the chest during breathing. Irritation caused by the asbestos fibers can damage the cells, leading to mesothelioma. This is known as pleural mesothelioma. A less common form of the disease is called peritoneal mesothelioma, which is a cancer of the membrane that lines the abdomen.
Many uses for asbestos were banned in the mid-1970’s. Even so, the risk from exposure continues today because mesothelioma has a long latency (inactive) period of anywhere between 15 to 50 years. Today, asbestos continues to be a threat to workers exposed through their occupations and in buildings that were erected prior to the ban. Experts predict that mesothelioma diagnoses will continue to increase in the United States for at least another 10 to 20 years. That means factory or shipyard workers who were exposed to asbestos in the 1940’s or 1950’s may not experience any symptoms of mesothelioma until this year.
Asbestos fibers are so toxic, that industrial and trade worker’s families may be exposed to mesothelioma through particles that cling to the worker’s clothing, shoes, skin and hair. This “second-hand” exposure to asbestos is called Para occupational exposure.
In a typical case, an individual with mesothelioma will experience chest pain (usually caused by a build-up of fluid in the pleural space called an effusion) and shortness of breath. Since most doctors do not have expertise in the area of asbestos-related diseases, these symptoms are often first attributed to other medical problems. A biopsy of the pleural tissue or fluid may reveal the cancer of the mesothelial cells and a proper diagnosis can be established. A history of the individual’s occupational exposure will in most instances be taken. Since there is no “safe” level of exposure to asbestos, even brief, low level exposures may be enough to cause mesothelioma.
No known cure for mesothelioma presently exists. As the disease progresses, the cancerous cells harden the pleura and spread. As time passes, breathing, sleeping and eating become more difficult. It becomes increasingly more challenging for the victim to engage in normal activities and enjoy life.
A number of treatments may be available to help contain the spread of the disease and reduce the pain associated with it. Chemotherapy, radiation and radical surgery to remove the lung and/or pleura are among the options that will be explored by the treating physician.
This disease was preventable. Many of the corporations that manufactured and profited from the sale of asbestos-containing products were aware of the hazards of asbestos. They were aware or could have been aware as early as the 1920’s. Alternative fibers were available in the 1920’s that could have been used instead of asbestos. But asbestos was cheap, and available, and was a good filler and binder. Notwithstanding the deadly hazards of this fiber, corporations chose to rip asbestos out of the earth and recklessly use it in products from the 1920’s through the 1970’s and 1980’s, until most of these products were banned in the United States and abroad. The manufacturers did not warn workers exposed to the asbestos in their products until, at the earliest, the mid-1960’s, and the warnings were terribly inadequate. The result is that many Americans have unnecessarily and tragically contracted asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, lung cancer, other cancers and asbestosis, a scarring of the lung or pleural tissue.
The large settlements and verdicts associated with mesothelioma cases are not accidental. Jurors who have the opportunity to review the internal documents of these manufacturers and sellers of these products are outraged by the actual knowledge of these corporations and access to knowledge about the hazards of asbestos.
