Mesothelioma Lawyer Blog

A Canadian woman who has now lost both her mother and her father to mesothelioma is calling for the country to put an outright ban on production of the natural mineral.

As our Mesothelioma Lawyer Blog has reported recently, a group of investors is planning to jump start Canada's asbestos exportation business, sending millions of tons of the mineral to third-world countries, where it will be used to build houses and buildings among unsuspecting people.

Our mesothelioma lawyers understand the dangerousness of asbestos and have seen many people whose health has been affected by exposure without their knowledge. Exposure to asbestos can cause many respiratory illnesses along with mesothelioma, a rare and incurable form of cancer.

While asbestos has never officially been banned in the United States, it is rarely used anymore. Though there have been examples of companies trying to use asbestos in road projects, those are typically halted once the samples are tested by environmental officials.

But many buildings still stand today in America that were built with asbestos. The natural mineral was highly popular in the early 20th century because of its resistance to fire and its ability to insulate a building. It was used heavily in construction, including coating pipes and in boiler rooms. It was also used in consumer products, including crock pots, hair dryers and other every day things.

Natural disasters, such as tornadoes and earthquakes have taken down many of these buildings and exposed many people to the asbestos inside. Researchers have found that first responders to the Sept. 11 attacks likely were exposed to heavy amounts of asbestos and other carcinogens.

And yet Canada has decided to continue its asbestos exportation business, despite the obvious health risks. Canada and Russia are among the biggest exporters of asbestos today, sending this dangerous product to counties where the people have little voice in the matter.

While Canadian officials say this new type of asbestos is tightly packed and won't flake off and cause exposure, there's no way to know for sure. And countries like India have lower standards for environmental protection and likely won't think twice about bringing it in.

One Ontario resident, who calls herself an "asbestos orphan" wants to try to convince the government to ban exportation and mining of asbestos, the Toronto Sun reports. The woman's mother told her just before death that no one should die the way she was dying -- after having been exposed to asbestos.

A mine in Quebec closed two years ago, but a group of investors -- padded by a Canadian-backed loan -- has vowed to continue the trade. Asbestos is already banned in 50 to 60 countries. In the United States, some asbestos-containing products are banned, but others are not. A 1991 court ruling out of New Orleans overturned an Environmental Protection Agency ban.

Despite Canada banning asbestos because of health concerns, its government is wiling to send the dangerous mineral to other countries, where their people can deal with the health effects years in the future.

Continue reading "Woman Who Lost Both Parents to Mesothelioma Calls For Asbestos Regulations" »

The World Health Organization recently reported that nearly 100,000 people died between 1994 to 2008 from mesothelioma, a large number considering how many cases may go undiagnosed.

While this form of cancer is still rare compared to other forms, such as lung, breast and prostate, the difficulty of diagnosing it makes keeping statistics challenging. Mesothelioma is rare and incurable, which makes it among the deadliest known forms of cancer.

Our mesothelioma lawyers have seen many families devastated to learn that their loved one has cancer solely because they worked in an old factory, in a shipyard or in construction decades ago in their youth. That's because mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, which was common in the United States for most of the 20th century.

Asbestos was used as a form of insulation; because it resists fire, so many buildings were constructed with it in roofs and walls throughout. Piping was coated with it and boiler room equipment also used it. Manufacturers found uses for asbestos in making car parts, such as brake pads and other commonly seen things such as ceiling tiles, peat moss, wallpaper, cement, hair dryers and cigarette filters.

All kinds of companies used it. Then, people began getting sick. And dying. By the 1970s, researchers were beginning to find that asbestos was dangerous, though more than 800,000 tons of the stuff was being used commercially in the United States by 1973.

In the following decades, production tailed off. But there are many old buildings and products that still contain asbestos. Road crews sometimes still use asbestos in a mixture to create roads.

Yet, in other countries, the asbestos industry is going strong, despite the well-documented health risks. As our Mesothelioma Lawyer Blog reported in September, Canada is one of the world's biggest exporters of asbestos. New investors restarted the countries asbestos trade and ships large amounts of the mineral to India. Russia is also a big exporter. Brazil and other third-world countries are still using the mineral to build houses and buildings.

WHO reports that mesothelioma affects men more than women and the time it takes from exposure to diagnosis is usually longer than 30 years, meaning the disease can work and spread without someone knowing it for that long. Once diagnosed, the average survival time is only 9 to 12 months. Some estimates say 43,000 people each year die from the disease, but getting good numbers is tough.

There are many countries where the cause of death simply isn't recorded. Some places don't have the resources to conduct research about health facts like the United States and other rich countries can. So, really, it's difficult to know how many fathers, brothers, mothers and sisters are dying from this awful cancer.

Continue reading "WHO Estimates 92,000 People Died From Mesothelioma From 1994 to 2008" »

A recent article in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology found that there may be a breakthrough procedure to care for pleural mesothelioma.

As it stands, mesothelioma has no known cure. It is a rare form of cancer that takes years and sometimes decades to be diagnosed. It is caused by exposure to asbestos, a once commonly used mineral that provided insulation and was used in floor and ceiling tiles, brake pads, pipe covering and other uses.

Asbestos is ingested and can attach to the lining of major organs, such as the lungs, heart and abdomen. Pleural mesothelioma is when asbestos builds around the lungs and causes this form of cancer.

Our mesothelioma lawyers are constantly rooting for new information and cures to this fatal illness. Sadly, the median life span after diagnosis is only 12 months, so once a person finds out they have this form of cancer, there is little time left to enjoy life. We hope that new research and new discoveries help people fend off this fatal cancer.

Currently, there are limited treatment options for those with mesothelioma. People can opt for surgery, which sometimes is risky given the areas that are being discussed, chemotherapy, radiation or immunotherapy.

But according to the recent article, a technique called the positron emission tomography uses molecule flurodeoxyglucose to track metabolism as it happens. When combined with a CT scan, doctors can better track how the cancer is moving and can give them a better understanding of how to treat it.

Understanding the progression of the illness in one patient can lead to helping many others if researchers can find patterns that will help generations to come. But for those affected now, using this new technique may be able to stop the cancer from spreading.

The article looked at 44 patients between 2004 and 2008. The study tried different forms of treatment and tracked the disease in the patients through flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography. The article's authors suggest that a full study could help people determine if this can be a useful technique to further study mesothelioma in the future.

Healthcare costs for everyone are skyrocketing. For people dealing with major medical issues such as mesothelioma, they can be extremely high, especially when new techniques are being used. For companies who employed workers in old factories, buildings, on shipyards, in car-parts companies or other places where asbestos was used, they may be liable for the illness and its effects.

Companies should remove asbestos so that it can't harm people and they should have done it decades ago when they first found out. Many did not and many workers got sick. Stand up for your rights and get help for your medical bills.

Continue reading "New Medicine Imaging Tactic Could Improve Diagnosis of Mesothelioma After Asbestos Exposure" »