Asbestos Exposure and Mesothelioma Cancer

Exposure to asbestos particles is one of the main causes of mesothelioma cancer. Also known as asbestos cancer. As a naturally occurring mineral with many useful commercial benefits. Asbestos is found in plumbing, insulation, building materials and many other products.

Asbestos

Through the use of commercial-free from this material, most people in the United States and other industrialized countries have been or will be exposed easily airborne particle pollution in their work or in their home environment. This exposure can create significant health hazard.Commercial applicationsMore than 700,000 schools and buildings in the United States today contain asbestos insulation as reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Exposure to asbestos does not stop there, but asbestos is often found in shipbuilding, manufacturing facilities, railway facilities and construction sites.Blue-collar workers (workers) are at highest risk for developing mesothelioma due to exposure on the job. They usually work at the aluminum plant, oil refineries, chemical plants, mines, factories, shipyards, construction sites and railway tracks.Employees in closed rooms with air masks facilities are still very vulnerable to exposure. Risk jobs most affected are miners, factory workers, railroad workers, shipbuilding and construction workers - especially those who install equipment containing asbestos insulation. Sometimes the worker's family members also receive residual exposure to asbestos dust and fibers brought home on workers' clothes and also the risk of contracting mesothelioma.There are six types of asbestos: chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, tremolite, anthophyllite and actinolite. Six types of minerals are divided into two classifications, namely serpentine and amphibole. Chrysotile is the only serpentine mineral classification. As known carcinogens are two classes of asbestos can cause mesothelioma.Chrysotile asbestos is the mineral most commonly used in the United States and is known for his curly fibers that can easily be woven into the fabric. Applications chrysotile including drywall compound, plaster, tile flooring vinyil, roofing materials, ceiling acoustical, fireproofing (flame retardant), putty materials, brake pads and shoes, stage curtains, comforters and cast coating teeth.Amosite and crocidolite asbestos minerals other is more commonly used, although their application is not as extensive as chrysotile. Products derived from minerals include asbestos insulation board, ceiling tiles and casings for water service.In the last ten years, the search asbestos has been found in the powder and the main ingredient of crayons.

Exposure and Health Risk

The widespread use of asbestos in various industries not only a risk of people working in the manufacture of asbestos-based products only. But those who might use raw materials of asbestos in everyday life they are also exposed to the carcinogen. Asbestos material attached to the clothes, hair, skin which then contaminate others and the environment.Although chrysotile is the most common form of asbestos used in the product and is a carcinogen. And it is known amosite and crocidolite asbestos are most harmful to health. All types of asbestos can last long to settle in a person's lungs for many years after exposure to asbestos, but the type of amosite and crocidolite are the most persistent particles in the lungs.Higher risk can occur in a worker in an environment associated with asbestos, nevertheless work with minimal exposure can also potentially undergo mesothelioma cancer or other diseases.Although exposure to asbestos may have peaked at the turn of the twentieth century until the 1970s, many people are still being subjected to asbestos particles. Still in debate that the latest mass exposure and tragic is the result of the 9/11 WTC attacks, in which tons of asbestos particles released into the air and endanger thousands of rescue workers and people living near Ground Zero. Many firefighters, police and rescue workers were diagnosed with asbestos cancer that is still battling cancer, continues today.Furthermore, many people continue to be exposed to asbestos in the homes of old buildings that handle the renovation themselves without knowing the potential health risks. Renovating buildings in this neighborhood can be spread asbestos into the air and inhaled into the body.Without knowledge of where asbestos may be present in the physical building of the house, then there is a greater risk for exposure to asbestos as a result of the dismantling of the renovation is done. Therefore, there must be a professional contractor personnel who checked thoroughly before physically building renovation project began. The execution of the destruction of the building should always be handled by professional contractors and recommended not to be done alone.One of the groups hardest hit from asbestos-related diseases are America's veterans. All branches of the US military use of tools, equipment and products with asbestos fibers. It unwittingly expose young men and women between the 1940s and 1970s. Most veterans are repeatedly exposed to asbestos then suffer from mesothelioma.For over a hundred years, almost every product that we hold may have been manufactured with asbestos components. Of goods household ornaments, products manufactured to protect firefighters, for dental products. Asbestos has been a silent killer in American industry.Some research points to get the fact that asbestos fibers have been inhaled more can cause physical irritation resulting in mesothelioma than cancer caused by a chemical reaction naturally. As a fiber that has been inhaled through the mouth and nose they are cleared from the body by way through the mucus in the nose, throat and airways when coughing or vomiting. Amphibole fibers (long and thin) can not be easily removed and therefore the carcinogenic substances left behind and embedded into the lining of the chest, lungs or stomach which causes scarring and inflammation that increases the risk of mesothelioma cancer. Symptoms of mesothelioma can be detected fastest ten years after exposure and can incubate for forty years

Asbestosis (scarring of the lungs) or mesothelioma lung cancer can also be caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers. Even people who were exposed to asbestos can be seven times greater risk of developing lung cancer than others. Workers who are in a high level of asbestos exposure more likely to die from cancer asbestosis, lung or mesothelioma than die from other diseases. It is also believed that inhaling and swallowing asbestos could contribute to the formation of mesothelioma in the abdomen called peritoneal mesothelioma. This disease has also been found in other organs such as the pancreas, larynx and colon. But fewer in number compared with the incidence of lung cancer.Chance of developing mesothelioma was comparable in direct proportion to the duration and amount of asbestos exposure experienced by a person. They were exposed to high levels of asbestos exposure at a young age for a long period of time have a greater risk than those diagnosed with mesothelioma were exposed to asbestos and the low level in the short term.Another important point is that the latency period of mesothelioma is very long. Often 2 to 40 after exposure to asbestos to be diagnosed with mesothelioma. Genetic factors may also play a role which explains why not everyone exposed to asbestos develop asbestos-related diseases.
Source:

Mayo Clinic. Mesothelioma: Risk Factors. Accessed on November 2, 2010.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mesothelioma/DS00779/DSECTION=risk-factors

National Cancer Institute. Asbestos Exposure and Cancer Risk. Accessed on November 2, 2010.
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/asbestos

World Health Organization. Asbestos-related diseases. Accessed on November 2, 2010.
http://www.who.int/occupational_health/topics/asbestos_documents/en/

World Health Organization. Asbestos: elimination of asbestos-related diseases. July 2010.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs343/en/index.html