Category: Asbestos Exposure
Virginia Joins States Observing Annual Mesothelioma Awareness Day
The state of Virginia has become the 11th state to pass legislation permanently proclaiming Sept. 26 as mesothelioma awareness day. The day recognizes the many victims of mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell recently signed the proclamation at a ceremony attended by Robena Reid, an advocate for mesothelioma victims who lost her mother to the disease, state delegate Mark Sickles who introduced the proclamation and supporters of the American Cancer Society and Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation.
Adopted unanimously by the Virginia House and Senate, Mesothelioma Awareness Day is designed to improve public understanding of the once rare form of cancer and the dangers of chronic asbestos exposure. When microscopic asbestos fibers are inhaled, they may lodge in the lung, producing inflammation and eventually disease. Mesothelioma produces tumors in the lining of the chest cavity and abdominal cavity.
“We are grateful to the Virginia Legislature for bringing much-needed attention to this often neglected cancer, and we hope this will prompt Virginians, as well as others, to learn more about this dangerous disease,” said Kathy Wiedemer, executive director of the Meso Foundation, a non-profit group that provides information and advocacy on behalf of mesothelioma victims and families.
Approximately, 2,500 to 3,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Most sufferers are older workers, retired workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos fibers in a workplace or during military service.
Asbestos building materials such as tile, insulation and flooring remain in many older houses and buildings. Ripping out the materials during remodeling or renovation projects can release asbestos fibers into the air, allowing them to be inhaled.
Frequently, the symptoms of mesothelioma are diagnosed only after the cancer has reached an advanced stage. Treatments for mesothelioma include radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, but the disease is often difficult to control.
Pinpointing Proteins May Lead to New Mesothelioma Therapies
An international team including researchers in New York, Hawaii and Italy have pinpointed a protein known as HMGB1 as a key player in the development of malignant mesothelioma, a cancer associated with asbestos exposure.
The new study in the journal Cancer Research describes the role that HMGB1 plays in the growth of malignant mesothelioma. It also suggests the possibility of a novel therapeutic approach for mesothelioma patients.
Malignant mesothelioma is an aggressive and highly lethal cancer. Approximately 2,500 to 3,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year, and a similar number die of the disease. Most people diagnosed with mesothelioma are older workers, retirees and veterans who inhaled asbestos fibers in a workplace for an extended period of months or years. The microscopic fibers lodge deep in the lungs causing tissue inflammation. The disease develops slowly over decades.
In a previous 2010 study, a research team composed of many of the same medical scientists found that patients exposed to asbestos have higher levels of HMGB1 in their blood. HMBG1 protein is released when cells are damaged or when tissue is injured. The protein causes an inflammatory reaction.
In the latest study, the researchers said the presence of the protein influences the growth and survival of mesothelioma cells. When the researchers inhibited the HMGB1 using anti-bodies in laboratory mice, it reduced the growth of mesothelioma cells in the mice and extended their survival. Inhibiting HMGB1 interferes with the inflammation process.
The team of investigators including Haining Yang and Michele Carbone of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center and Harvey Pass of the New York University School of Medicine said their findings show that mesothelioma cancer cells rely on HMGB1. The research suggests that suppression of the protein HMGB1 using antibodies offers therapeutic promise as a new treatment for mesothelioma.
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Navy Veteran’s Award of $32 Million for Asbestos Exposure Among Largest NY Verdicts
A $32 million verdict awarded to a Navy veteran diagnosed with mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos aboard ships ranks among the five largest New York verdicts of 2011, according the legal publication Verdict Search.
The New York Mesothelioma law firm of Belluck & Fox represented Ronald Dummitt and his wife Doris Kay Dummitt, who accused asbestos manufacturers of recklessly failing to warn him about the health hazards of their products used on ships. Inhaling microscopic asbestos fibers causes mesothelioma, an incurable cancer that produces tumors in the lining of the lung and the abdominal cavity.
A New York jury in August 2011 awarded Ronald Dummitt, who served as a boiler tender and a Master Chief Petty Officer, and his wife $16 million for past pain and suffering and $16 million for future pain and suffering. The jury found that the asbestos manufacturers had acted with reckless disregard for the safety of others by failing to warn of the dangers of asbestos.
The jury determined that Dummitt developed pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung, while serving aboard seven U.S. Navy ships between 1960 and 1977. Dummitt, who worked in the boiler room and fire rooms in the ship, was exposed to asbestos while repairing Crane Co.-manufactured valves, which involved removing and replacing asbestos containing gaskets, packing and lagging pads on each ship.
In addition, Dummitt was exposed to asbestos while working with Eliot Turbomachinery, Inc. – manufactured de-aerating feed tanks containing asbestos lagging pads and gaskets on one of the ships, the jury determined. The jury apportioned 99 percent of the responsibility to Crane and 1 percent to Eliot.
Navy veterans are among the workers most at risk of developing mesothelioma and asbestos disease. Asbestos materials were widely used on ships from World War II through the 1970s. Veterans who served on ships in the 1970s or 1980s may only recently have begun to experience symptoms of asbestos disease.
Dummitt said that he was originally diagnosed with pleural plaques, areas of scarring on the lining of the lung resulting from asbestos exposure in 2003. He began experiencing pain from accumulation of fluid on his lung and was diagnosed in April 2010 with pleural mesothelioma. Symptoms of mesothelioma often appear decades after exposure to asbestos.
“While no amount of money can restore Mr. Dummitt’s health, this mesothelioma verdict is just, and it represents all that we can do to set things right,” New York mesothelioma attorney Jordan Fox, a founding partner of Belluck & Fox, LLP said in a press release. ”The jury identified the culprits and the degree to which they contributed to his fatal disease, and to that extent, the truth prevailed. We are proud to have represented him.”
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New British Research Suggests Link Between Asbestos and Heart Disease, Stroke
A new study of British workers finds that asbestos may cause other serious illnesses in addition to mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer that produces tumors in the lining of the lung.
The study, published in the latest issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, reports that workers in Great Britain exposed to asbestos in the workplace are more likely to die from heart disease than people in the general population.
Asbestos is recognized as a cause of serious respiratory disease in humans, including asbestosis, a scarring of lung, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of lining of the lungs and abdomen. But it hasn’t been established whether asbestos exposure is a risk factor in cardiovascular disease.
But it’s well established that inhaling or swallowing asbestos causes inflammation. And inflammatory processes are involved in the development of cardiovascular disease, which includes diseases of the heart and blood vessels.
So researchers, led by Anne-Helen Harding of Britain’s Health and Safety Laboratory, analyzed the presence of cardiovascular disease and death rates among nearly 100,000 asbestos workers between 1971 and 2005. Many of the workers had jobs that involved asbestos removal.
The researchers reported a significantly higher number of deaths from ischemic heart disease and stroke among asbestos workers than the general population. Male asbestos workers were 63 percent more likely to die of a stroke and 39 percent more likely to die of heart disease.
The researchers also observed a correlation between the length of exposure to asbestos and the likelihood of developing ischemic heart disease, a reduced blood supply in the heart muscle. The researchers said the findings provide some evidence that workplace asbestos exposure contributes to heart disease in exposed workers.
Asbestos exposure is the leading cause of work-related deaths in Great Britain, accounting for approximately 4,000 deaths per year, according to the Health and Safety Executive, a British government agency that oversees workplace safety. In the United States, approximately, 2,500 to 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the United States each year and similar numbers of people die of mesothelioma each year. Symptoms of asbestos disease typically take 20 years to 40 years to appear, so workers exposed in 1970s may only recently have begun noticing symptoms such as shortness of breath, pain beneath the ribs and a persistent cough.
Mesothelioma Patient Urges Registry of Buildings with Asbestos
A Canadian food inspector who has been diagnosed with mesothelioma wants the Canadian government to establish a registry of buildings containing asbestos to warn others of the workplace hazard. Once widely used as a building material, asbestos is associated with serious respiratory diseases including asbestosis, lung cancer, and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the chest and abdominal cavities.
Howard Willems, 59, a federal food inspector for more than 30 years, contracted mesothelioma while inspecting a number of older food plants in Saskatchewan, according to a recent report by the CBC, Canada’a national news network.
Willems contends that everyone has a right to know when they enter a workplace that it is safe. He said he now realizes that he was exposed to asbestos when he inspected food plants while they were undergoing renovation. He said there were no warning labels that asbestos was harmful.
Workplace asbestos exposure is common among people diagnosed with mesothelioma, including construction workers exposed during remodeling and demolition of older buildings. Approximately, 2,500 to 3,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year and most are retired workers and veterans who breathed asbestos fibers in a workplace. In Canada, approximately 350 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma annually, according to the Canadian Medical Association. The numbers have increased significantly in the last two decades.
The Canadian Cancer Society also has called on the federal and provincial governments to maintain a public registry of buildings that contain asbestos. A registry would help ensure that asbestos is properly removed from them by trained workers. The government has not responded.
Willems had one diseased lung removed in 2011 and is undergoing monitoring of his remaining lung. Typically, mesothelioma symptoms appear 20 years to 40 years after exposure to asbestos. But once it appears, the cancer is aggressive and difficult to treat.
Willems said the Canadian provincial and federal governments had been aware of the harm caused by asbestos for years and had been negligent in allowing continued exposure to the cancer-causing material. He said the government had relied on questionable scientific studies to justify continued production and export of asbestos. Canada is a leading exporter of asbestos, primarily to developing nations, despite calls by many medical and health organizations for Canada to cease asbestos exports.
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