The US Epidemic of Asbestos deaths
Asbestos, a wonder fibrous mineral, is fire resistant, chemical resistant and highly flexible. However, this wonderful substance also causes innumerable diseases like mesothelioma, asbestosis, fibrosis, asbestos warts and so on. The deaths due to asbestos are becoming an epidemic in the US.
More than 10000 people are succumbing to asbestos related diseases every year. The mining, manufacture and use of asbestos create a lot of asbestos dust and asbestos fibers are released into the atmosphere. The asbestos fibers are light in weight and invisible to the naked eye. Thus, they get airborne and are easily inhaled by the people. Thus, they enter the human body through the nose or mouth.
Even a single fiber is enough to cause an asbestos related disease. When this fiber comes in contact with the mesothelium lining of the body organs like lungs, abdomen and heart, it makes the mesothelium cells to act abnormally. They start to outlive the other cells. Also, they start dividing rapidly leading to tumors in that body part, which may later spread all over the body. This condition is called as mesothelioma and has no cure. Death is inevitable for most mesothelioma patients.
Mesothelioma has a terribly long latency period. The disease may start some 15 to 40 years after exposure to the asbestos dust. The only way to prevent the disease is to ban all types of asbestos use and manufacture all over the world. UK was the first country to ban asbestos. US also followed UK's example. However, since the disease has a very long latency period, the effects of asbestos exposure may be felt for the next one or two decades. No state in US is free of asbestos related deaths. The States of California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas have the highest asbestos related mortality rates.
Asbestosis in US: Asbestosis is not a cancerous disease like mesothelioma. However, if it is not properly diagnosed and treated, it may lead to death. Nearly 1400 people die of asbestosis every year. Most of the asbestosis cases are not diagnosed correctly and thus, it is not even reported. Therefore, the actual mortality statistics may be much higher than the above documented statistics. It is expected that the asbestosis mortality rate would skyrocket in the next decade.
Mesothelioma in US Mesothelioma may be cancerous or non-cancerous. When it is cancerous, it is known as a malignant form of mesothelioma and when it is non-cancerous, it is known as a benign form of mesothelioma. Around 75% of the mesothelioma cases are of the pleural type (affecting the lungs), 20% affect the abdomen and are of the peritoneal type of mesothelioma. A small percentage is of the pericardial type (affecting the heart). Every year, around 2500 people succumb to this disease and this number is expected to peak by 2015.
Lung Cancer in US: The cancer of the lungs is the most terrible and painful death. It is pathetic to see the patients pant and struggle to breathe, coughing up blood in the process. Nearly 4800 people fall prey to asbestos belated lung cancer annually. The above figure does not include cases of lung cancer without exposure to asbestos.
Abdominal cancer in US: When asbestos fibers and asbestos dust enter the body through the mouth, they settle in the abdomen leading to cancer. Nearly 1200 cases annually succumb to abdominal cancer due to asbestos exposure.
Why is a sudden rise in asbestos deaths expected in the US? Till the 1970s, nearly 3000 asbestos related products (both industrial products and consumer products) were marketed in America. The American workers were exposed to asbestos fibers and they inhaled them. The asbestos dust settled on their clothes and they carried them home. At home, their parents, spouse, siblings and children inhaled them.
The safeguards to protect the workers came only around the 1980s but much before that thousands of American citizens had already inhaled asbestos fibers. Also, many industrialists only worried about their profits. They did not provide adequate safeguards to protect the workers. The US government protects and encourages the mesothelioma victims and their dependents to legally sue their relevant employers for the medical expenses and hardship caused to them.
The disease, mesothelioma has a huge latency period. That is why people who are exposed in 1970s will succumb to the disease only in 2005-2020. Sometimes, maybe even as late as 2030. This is the reason why as years go by, the deaths due to asbestos exposure are increasing.
Terrible forecasts in US for the near future Around 10000 deaths are being recorded every year in America due to asbestos exposure. Research in medicine and clinical trials are still only in process. Even then, only marginal help may be available as irreparable damage has already happened. It is expected that around 10-40 people may die everyday in the next 10 years because of their history of exposure to asbestos. The total mortality on the basis of the current trends will be around 200,000 by 2015.
If there is a great medical discovery and a significant breakthrough has happened, even then, maybe around 50% of the deaths would come down. Even then, it is expected that within the next decade, around 100,000 people would succumb to asbestos related diseases. In a country like America, which has already banned asbestos, the statistics are so shocking. If this is the case in US, it is depressing to think of the situation in countries like India and China, which have still not imposed a complete ban on asbestos.
Copyright ArchanaSaratabout the author
Archana Sarat is a freelance writer and a researcher at a medical research firm. To know more about mesothelioma log on to http://www.rarehope.com
