ASBESTOS CASE

Asbestos kills 12,000-15,000 per year

Asbestos kills 12,000-15,000 people per year.

At the SCHMIDT-SALITA LAW TEAM WE DISCUSS YOUR EMPLOYMENT AND HEALTH HISTORY AND HAVE REPRESENTED NUMEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES IN ALL EXPOSURE CASES,INCLUDING ASBESTOS< MESOTHELIOMA AND RELATED CANCERS> WE PURSUE CLAIMS AND LAWSUITS AGAINST THOSE EMPLOYERS, MANUFACTURERS AND THIRD PARTIES FOR MEDICAL CARE, LOST EARNINGS, THE VICTIM’S PAIN AND SUFFERING, OR THE SURVIVORS’ LOSSES. PLEASE CONTACT US AT

Phone: 952-473-4530

Toll Free: 1-800-656-8450

Fax: 952-544-1308

Email: info@mnlawteam.com

An excellent article by Sonya Lunder of the Environmental Working Group. Look up their good work.

Fifty years after a landmark medical study definitively established that asbestos kills, the exact death toll remains unknown (Selikoff 1964).

EWG Action Fund’s exclusive analysis finds that exposure to asbestos kills at least 12,000 to 15,000 Americans a year. Despite a significant reduction in the use of asbestos since the 1980s, the number of annual deaths held steady for more than a decade, because asbestos-related diseases may not strike victims for decades after they were exposed to these dangerous mineral fibers.

From 1999 to 2013, the years for which data are currently available, we have estimated the number of deaths from asbestos exposure in the U.S. at 189,000 to 221,000 people, or 12,000 to 15,000 deaths a year (Figure 1). Those figures are based on a review of federal records of deaths from diseases caused exclusively by asbestos, plus a calculation using a formula developed by international cancer researchers to estimate the number of lung cancer deaths likely caused by asbestos (CDC 2015, McCormack 2012).  Asbestosis and Mesothelioma deaths compiled from CDC WONDER database, 1999-2013.  Estimates of lung cancers attributed to asbestos exposure from McCormack 2012 study.

A more exact number can’t be pinned down, because asbestos-related deaths are not precisely recorded or reported by public health authorities. Our estimate is conservative.

Asbestos exposure is not usually listed as a cause of death for lung cancer victims, even though researchers believe that many more people die of lung cancer triggered by asbestos than of other diseases exclusively associated with asbestos. Nor does our estimate account for undiagnosed diseases or errors on death certificates that result in misclassification of asbestos-related diseases.

Three major diseases are caused by inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers:

  • Mesothelioma is a rare and always fatal cancer that strikes the mesothelium, a thin membrane lining the lungs, heart, chest cavity, gastrointestinal system and reproductive organs. Mesothelioma is primarily caused by exposure to asbestos (ACS 2015). For the purpose of this analysis all mesothelioma victims are presumed to have been exposed to asbestos at some point in their lives.

  • Asbestosis is caused by inhaled asbestos fibers that lodge deep in the lungs, scarring the organs or triggering the growth of excess tissue, a condition known as fibrosis. Asbestosis makes breathing excruciatingly painful and often leads to death from lung or heart failure; the victim essentially suffocates. There is no known cure. Because its symptoms are similar to other respiratory diseases, asbestosis may not always be recorded as the cause of death.

  • Lung cancer can be caused by inhalation of asbestos fibers. Estimating the number of lung cancer deaths attributable to asbestos exposure is difficult, since death certificates citing the cause of death as lung cancer do not indicate if the person had any exposure to asbestos. However, we estimate that many more people die of asbestos-related lung cancer than from mesothelioma or asbestosis.

Researchers believe that some cancers of the larynx, ovaries, stomach and colorectal area are triggered by asbestos exposure (NAS 2006). The number of cases is impossible to estimate based on existing evidence. It is likely fewer people die from these cancers than from mesothelioma, asbestosis or lung cancer.

EWG Action Fund searched the WONDER database of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which currently holds Multiple Causes of Death files for all fatalities recorded for the years 1999 to 2013 (CDC 2015). We obtained data for deaths from mesothelioma and asbestosis.  Asbestosis is a non-cancer respiratory disease attributed to asbestos exposure. Because the files allow local health officials to record more than one cause of death, we counted all deaths for which mesothelioma or asbestosis is listed as the primary or contributing cause.

The data show that between 1999 and 2013, mesothelioma was listed as the cause of 39,870 deaths, or about 2,848 a year (ICD-10 code C45). Asbestosis was listed as the cause of 20,317 deaths, or about 1,451 a year (ICD-10 code J61). Both conditions are listed as the causes of 1,285 deaths, or about 92 people per year (Table 1).

Asbestosis was recorded as the primary cause of death in the cases of 40 to 50 percent of asbestosis victims. In the remainder, asbestosis was recorded as a contributing cause. As a result, our estimates of asbestosis deaths are higher than those of the Centers for Disease Control, which counts only the primary cause of death (CDC 2008, Bang 2013).

Yet our estimates are still conservative, because some unknown number of deaths may have been attributed to pneumonia, other respiratory disease or lung fibrosis of unknown origin (Reynolds 2014). If doctors failed to ask patients about asbestos exposure, or if patients were unaware they had been exposed to asbestos, the death certificate would not mention asbestos as a cause.

Mesothelioma and asbestosis are only part of the devastation wrought by asbestos. Studies of people who worked with asbestos indicate that they have higher rates of lung cancer as well. However, there has been little effort to tally the toll of asbestos-related lung cancer.

Most lung cancer in the U.S. results from cigarette smoking. Studies of smokers exposed to asbestos consistently find higher rates of lung cancer than among smokers who were not exposed (Moon 2013). The combination of asbestos exposure and smoking is particularly deadly.

The increased risk of lung cancer in a given group of people depends on how much they smoked and on the severity and timing of their asbestos exposure, making it difficult to estimate risks for the general population from a single study. Because asbestos is essentially the sole cause of mesothelioma, and mesothelioma risk is not influenced by smoking, many studies have attempted to estimate the number of asbestos-related lung cancer deaths based on the number of mesothelioma deaths.

Scientists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the United Nations’ World Heath Organization, reviewed 55 studies that reported the rates of both lung cancer and mesothelioma in groups of people exposed to asbestos (McCormack 2012). In a study published in 2012, these scientists suggest that the best way to estimate asbestos-related lung cancer in a population is based on the number of mesothelioma deaths for that group. Their analysis suggests that there are 3.2 to 4 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. for every mesothelioma death among individuals exposed to asbestos.

Applying this ratio to the Centers for Disease Control death certificate records for mesothelioma mortality, we calculated that between 1999 and 2013 an estimated 127,579 to 159,480 Americans died of lung cancer caused by asbestos exposure – about 8,500 to 10,600 deaths a year (Table 2). This suggests that asbestos-related deaths from lung cancer dwarfs both asbestosis and mesothelioma.

Still, the number of lung cancer deaths EWG Action Fund estimates with this method may also be too low, according to Richard Lemen, a former U.S. assistant surgeon general who now heads the Science Advisory Panel of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. Dr. Lemen believes the number of lung cancer deaths would have been greater if the authors of the International Agency for Research on Cancer study had based their calculation on fewer and higher quality mortality studies (Lemen 2013). Indeed, a recent review of occupational studies found that studies with better data collection and longer followup of participants produced higher estimates of lung cancer deaths. (Lenters 2011, 2012).

Another review by the World Health Organization says the number of lung cancer deaths could be greater than the first study estimates. It says that in workers exposed to chrysotile, the most common type of asbestos, lung cancer deaths are six times higher than mesothelioma deaths (WHO 2014). If this were true for the U.S. population the number of asbestos-related lung cancer deaths would be much greater than we estimate. More research is urgently needed to clarify the asbestos-related lung cancer burden for Americans.

All told, when annual deaths from lung cancer, mesothelioma and asbestos are tallied, the scale of asbestos mortality is staggering. We calculate that from 1999 to 2013, between 11,586 and 15,510 Americans died each year from asbestos-related diseases. Over this period there was no apparent decline in asbestos deaths. For those who were exposed years ago but may not yet show symptoms, the prognosis is grim, although research to find a mesothelioma cure continues. To keep even more victims from exposure, suffering and death, the nation needs a total ban on asbestos.

References:

American Cancer Society. 2015. Asbestos. http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/othercarcinogens/intheworkplace/asbestos

Bang KM, Mazurek JM, Wood JM, et al. 2014. Diseases Attributable to Asbestos Exposure: Years of Potential Life Lost, United States, 1999-2010. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 57:38-48.

CDC. 2015. Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), Multiple Causes of Mortality files. Center for Disease Control, http://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd.html, queried March 2015.

CDC. 2008. Asbestosis-Related Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 65 Years – United States, 1968–2005. Centers for Disease Control, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 57(49):1321-1325. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5749a1.htm

Lemen R, Frank AL, Soskolne CL, Weiss SH, Castleman B. 2013. Comment on ‘Estimating the asbestos-related lung cancer burden from mesothelioma mortality’ – IARC and Chrysotile Risks. British Journal of Cancer 109:823-825.

Lenters V, Vermeulen R, Dogger S, et al. 2011. A Meta-analysis of Asbestos and Lung Cancer: Is Better Quality Exposure Assessment Associated with Steeper Slopes of the Exposure–Response Relationships? Environ Health Perspect. 119(11):1547–1555.

Lenters V, Burdorf A, Vermeulen R, et al. 2012. Quality of Evidence Must Guide Risk Assessment of Asbestos. Ann Occup Hyg. 56(8):879-87

McCormack V, Peto J, Byrnes G, Straif K, Boffetta P. 2012. Estimating the asbestos-related lung cancer burden from mesothelioma mortality. British Journal of Cancer. 106:575-584.

Moon EK, Son M, Young-Woo J, et al. 2013. Variations of Lung Cancer Risk from Asbestos Exposure: Impact on Estimating of Population Attributable Fraction. Industrial Health. 51:128-133.

National Academy of Sciences. 2006. Asbestos: Selected Cancers. June 2006. https://www.iom.edu/Reports/2006/Asbestos-Selected-Cancers.aspx

Reynolds C, et al. 2014. Occupational lung disease: Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, Mesothelioma, and Asbestosis Mortality Trends For England And Wales: Is Asbestos Exposure Associated With IPF? Thorax 2014;69:A4-A5 doi:10.1136/thoraxjnl-2014-206260.9

Selikoff IJ, Churg J, Hammond EC. 1964. Asbestos Exposure and Neoplasia. Journal of the American Medical Association. 188:22-6.

WHO. Chrysotile Asbestos. 2014. World Health Organization. March 2014. http://www.who.int/ipcs/assessment/public_health/chrysotile_asbestos_summary.pdf

Mesothelioma

Have you or a loved one recently been diagnosed with mesothelioma or has a loved one recently passed away from this unfortunate disease?

The Mayo Clinic, via their website, gives an excellent outline of this asbestos cancer. Malignant mesothelioma (me-zoe-thee-lee-O-muh) is a type of cancer that occurs in the thin layer of tissue that covers the majority of your internal organs (mesothelium).

Mesothelioma is an aggressive and deadly form of cancer. Mesothelioma treatments are available, but for many people with mesothelioma, a cure isn't possible.

Doctors divide mesothelioma into different types based on what part of the mesothelium is affected. Mesothelioma most often affects the tissue that surrounds the lungs (pleura). This type is called pleural mesothelioma. Other, rarer types of mesothelioma affect tissue in the abdomen (peritoneal mesothelioma), around the heart and around the testicles.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma vary depending on where the cancer occurs. Tell your doctor if you've been exposed to asbestos.

Pleural mesothelioma, which affects the tissue that surrounds the lungs, causes signs and symptoms that may include:

  • Chest pain

  • Painful coughing

  • Shortness of breath

  • Unusual lumps of tissue under the skin on your chest

  • Unexplained weight loss

Peritoneal mesothelioma, which occurs in tissue in the abdomen, causes signs and symptoms that may include:

  • Abdominal pain

  • Abdominal swelling

  • Nausea

  • Unexplained weight loss

Most people with mesothelioma were exposed to the asbestos fibers at work. Workers who may encounter asbestos fibers include:

  • Asbestos miners

  • Electricians

  • Plumbers

  • Pipefitters

  • Insulators

  • Shipyard workers

  • Demolition workers

  • Brake mechanics

  • Selected military personnel

  • Home remodelers

Asbestos exposure: The primary risk factor for mesothelioma

Most mesotheliomas are thought to be related to asbestos exposure. Asbestos is a mineral that's found naturally in the environment. Asbestos fibers are strong and resistant to heat, making them useful in a wide variety of applications, such as in insulation, brakes, shingles, flooring and many other products.

When asbestos is broken up, such as during the mining process or when removing asbestos insulation, dust may be created. If the dust is inhaled or swallowed, the asbestos fibers will settle in the lungs or in the stomach, where they can cause irritation that may lead to mesothelioma. Exactly how this happens isn't understood. It can take 20 to 60 years or more for mesothelioma to develop after asbestos exposure.

Most people with asbestos exposure never develop mesothelioma. This indicates that other factors may be involved in determining whether someone gets mesothelioma. For instance, you could inherit a predisposition to cancer or some other condition could increase your risk.

Factors that may increase the risk of mesothelioma include:

  • Personal history of asbestos exposure. If you've been directly exposed to asbestos fibers at work or at home, your risk of mesothelioma is greatly increased.

  • Living with someone who works with asbestos. People who are exposed to asbestos may carry the fibers home on their skin and clothing. Exposure to these stray fibers over many years can put others in the home at risk of mesothelioma. People who work with high levels of asbestos can reduce the risk of bringing home asbestos fibers by showering and changing clothes before leaving work.

  • A family history of mesothelioma. If your parent, sibling or child has mesothelioma, you may have an increased risk of this disease.

Other forms of mesothelioma

Signs and symptoms of other types of mesothelioma are unclear, since these forms of the disease are very rare.

Pericardial mesothelioma, which affects tissue that surrounds the heart, can cause signs and symptoms such as breathing difficulty and chest pains.

Mesothelioma of tunica vaginalis, which affects tissue surrounding the testicles, may be first detected as swelling or a mass on a testicle.

Complications

As pleural mesothelioma spreads in the chest, it puts pressure on the structures in that area. This can cause complications, such as:

  • Difficulty breathing

  • Chest pain

  • Difficulty swallowing

  • Pain caused by pressure on the nerves and spinal cord

  • Accumulation of fluid in the chest (pleural effusion), which can compress the lung nearby and make breathing difficult.

At the SCHMIDT-SALITA LAW TEAM WE DISCUSS YOUR EMPLOYMENT AND HEALTH HISTORY AND HAVE REPRESENTED NUMEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES IN ALL EXPOSURE CASES, WE PURSUE CLAIMS AND LAWSUITS AGAINST THOSE EMPLOYERS, MANUFACTURERS AND THIRD PARTIES FOR MEDICAL CARE, LOST EARNINGS, THE VICTIM’S PAIN AND SUFFERING, OR THE SURVIVORS’ LOSSES. PLEASE CONTACT US AT

Phone: 952-473-4530

Toll Free: 1-800-656-8450

Fax: 952-544-1308

Email: info@mnlawteam.com

Health Risks of Asbestos with the Lungs.

Asbestos-related diseases are disorders of the lung and pleura which arise out of the inhalation of asbestos. Asbestos is made of fibers. . Asbestos-related diseases include non cancerous conditions such as as asbestosis, (pulmonary fibrosis due to asbestos), diffuse pleural thickening, pleural plaques, pleural effusion and malignancies (cancers) such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma.

Workers in jobs with significant asbestos dust exposure are at the highest risk of developing asbestos-related disease. Asbestos was prsent in many building materials. There still remain asbestos in buildings that were built prior to the restriction of asbestos use. Older buildings have asbestos fragments that are released in the air and create a potential hazard. Anyone around the asbestos-containing material during home maintenance and renovation can be affected. This includes many workers such as pipefitters, plumbers, electricians, construction workers, auto workers among many others.

Non-malignant asbestos-related pleural diseases

Benign asbestos-related diseases encompass four types of pleural changes:

  • Pleural plaques

  • Diffuse pleural thickening

  • Benign asbestos pleural effusions

  • Rounded atelectasis (folded lung)

Pleural plaques

Pleural plaques are the most common manifestation of asbestos exposure, affecting up to 58% of asbestos-exposed workers. The chest xray is the usual tool for diagnosing pleural plaques but chest CT Scan is more sensitive and specific in this regard. Pleural plaques are evidence of past asbestos exposure and indicate an increased risk for the future development of other asbestos-related diseases. Pleural plaques in themselves are not pre-malignant. Individuals with pleural plaques are usually not compensated in most compensation systems.

Diffuse pleural thickening

Diffuse pleural thickening (DPT) is non-circumscribed fibrous thickening of the visceral pleura with areas of adherence to the parietal pleura and obliteration of the pleural space It often extends over the area of an entire lobe or lung, with fibrotic areas involving  Diffuse pleural thickening develops 20 to 40 years after first exposure. All types of asbestos can cause diffuse pleural thickening and a dose-related relationship has been described. It is thought that asbestos fibres that reach the pleura induce subpleural fibroblasts and mesothelial cells to produce scar tissue and collagen deposition, resulting in subpleural thickening. It usually begins with an inflammation of the pleura that is accompanied by a pleural effusion.  DPT has a significant impact on pulmonary function, causing a decrease in forced vital capacity, reducing total lung capacity and diffusing capacity.

Benign asbestos pleural effusion

Benign asbestos pleural effusion is a buildup of fluid between the two pleural layer following asbestos exposure. It is relatively uncommon and the earliest manifestation of disease following asbestos exposure, usually occurring within 10 years from exposure. Effusions may be asymptomatic but rarely, they can cause pain, fever, and breathlessness. Diagnosis relies on a compatible history of asbestos exposure and exclusion of other probable causes.

Rounded atelectasis

 Also known as Blesovsky’s or folded lung syndrome) develops from infolding of thickened visceral pleura with collapse of the intervening lung parenchyma.] Rounded atelectasis is the least common asbestos-related benign pleural disease. Exposure to asbestos is the most likely cause today but it can occur following other medical conditions. It is a chronic condition and usually asymptomatic.

Asbestosis

Asbestosis is a chronic lung disease caused by scarring of lung tissue, which results from prolonged exposure to asbestos. It is defined as diffuse interstitial pulmonary fibrosis secondary to asbestos exposure. It initially affects the lung bases and usually manifests after 15 or more years from initial exposure. It occurs after high intensity and/or long-term exposure to asbestos. Asbestos-related fibrosis is progressive because it continues to progress in the lung even if no further asbestos is inhaled. The scar tissue causes the alveolar walls to thicken, reducing the lung capacity which leads to the patient experiencing shortness of breath.. Sufferers are at an increased risk for heart failure and certain malignancies.

Malignant asbestos-related diseases

Malignant mesothelioma

Malignant Mesothelioma is an aggressive and incurable tumor caused by asbestos arising from mesothelial cells of the pleura, (the lining of the abdominal cavity) and rarely elsewhere. Pleural mesothelioma is the most common type of mesothelioma, representing about 75 percent of cases. Peritoneal mesothelioma or stomach mesothelioma is the second most common type, consisting of about 10 to 20 percent of cases.. The symptoms include shortness of breath, chronic chest pain, cough, and weight loss. A biopsy is needed to confirm a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma has a poor prognosis, with most patients dying within 1 year of diagnosis. T

Asbestos-related lung cancer

Asbestos can cause cancer that is identical to lung cancer from other causes. Exposure to asbestos is associated with all major histological types of lung carcinoma (aenocarcinoma,  squamos cell carcinoma, large cell carcinoma and small cell carcinoma). The latency period between exposure and development of lung cancer is 20 to 30 years. It is estimated that 3%-8% of all lung cancers are related to asbestos. The risk of developing lung cancer depends on the level, duration, and frequency of asbestos exposure (cumulative exposure). Treatment involves surgical removal of the cancer, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or a combination of these (multimodality treatment). Prognosis is generally poor unless the cancer is detected in its early stages. Out of all patients diagnosed with lung cancer, only 15% survive for five years after diagnosis.

At the SCHMIDT-SALITA LAW TEAM WE DISCUSS YOUR EMPLOYMENT AND HEALTH HISTORY AND HAVE REPRESENTED NUMEROUS INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES IN ALL EXPOSURE CASES, WE PURSUE CLAIMS AND LAWSUITS AGAINST THOSE EMPLOYERS, MANUFACTURERS AND THIRD PARTIES FOR MEDICAL CARE, LOST EARNINGS, THE VICTIM’S PAIN AND SUFFERING, OR THE SURVIVORS’ LOSSES. PLEASE CONTACT US AT

Phone: 952-473-4530

Toll Free: 1-800-656-8450

Fax: 952-544-1308

Email: info@mnlawteam.com

What is the difference between Pleural Plaques, Asbestosis and Mesothelioma

X-ray(Chest)Cancer.jpg

What is the difference between Pleural Plaques, Asbestosis, and Mesothelioma?

The pleura is a two-layered membrane surrounding the lungs and lining the inside of the rib cage. It is very common for areas of this membrane to become thickened and to accumulate a chalky material If one has been exposed to asbestos. These areas are called pleural plaques.

If you have pleural plaques, it doesn’t mean that:

  • you will go on to get a more serious disease 

  • you have a more serious disease at the moment

Being exposed to asbestos does increase your risk of developing a serious lung condition such as asbestosis, mesothelioma, or cancer.  Plaques aren’t a form of cancer.

Asbestosis is a rare long-term lung condition. It usually develops around many years after you have breathed in .

Breathing in asbestos fibres, can cause them to become lodged inside your lungs and cause scarring. This scarring leads to the lungs shrinking and hardening. In turn, this results in shortness of breath.

Asbestosis is not cancer, but studies have shown that having the disease can make patients more likely to develop lung cancer in the future. Patients with asbestosis could even develop mesothelioma in the future.

Although asbestosis isn’t cancer, there are, unfortunately, long-term complications involved with the disease and there is currently no cure.

Other than the fact that asbestosis is not a deadly cancer like mesothelioma, the biggest difference is how it develops. Asbestosis develops from asbestos fibers lodging in the alveoli, which are the lungs air sacs. Mesothelioma develops from asbestos fibers lodged in the lining of the lungs.

At Schmidt-Salita Law Team we discuss your employment history and have significant records with known asbestos-containing materials and job sites . We have handled many cases on behalf of victims of Mesothelioma or Asbestos disease and their families. We pursue claims and lawsuits against those employers, manufacturers and third parties for medical care, lost earnings, the victim’s pain and suffering, or the survivors’ losses.

Please contact us at:

Phone: 952-473-4530

Toll Free: 1-800-656-8450

Fax: 952-544-1308

Email: info@mnlawteam.com