Asbestos is the term used to refer to a group of six naturally occurring minerals and it has been widely used in various industrial applications as it is highly resistant to heat, chemicals and does not conduct electricity.
The use of asbestos has been regulated in 1970 by the Environmental Protection Agency because it has been found to be extremely dangerous for workers and their families, causing mesothelioma and other illnesses. Thus, most people think of it as a historical threat, without knowing that even nowadays a great number of workers are at risk of cancer from asbestos exposure.
Tom Carson, aged 61, is one of the few people suffering from an asbestos-related disease that managed to live more than one year after the diagnosis. Only
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However, after 2 weeks of investigating the patient’s medical history and performing various blood tests and imaging scans, cancer specialists have managed to establish a connection between Tom’s confusing symptoms and workplace. A tumor biopsy that has been taken and analyzed confirmed the doctors’ suspicions and on 22nd of November 2015, Tom has been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma.
Even though no cure for this illness has been found, Tom undergoes a multimodal treatment in order to stay alive for as long as possible. This multimodal approach combines surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and has been proved to be more efficient than the mentioned treatments alone. Luckily for Tom, whose disease has been discovered pretty late, the surgery was still possible to perform.
Working with asbestos-containing products require appropriate protective equipment, something that Tom never had. The ELG has helped him get his rightful compensation from the company he dedicated his life to. He hopes that by sharing his story, he will raise awareness about the various possibilities of asbestos exposure amongst workers and help decreasing the exposure rate in the
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Asbestos is a natural occurring airborne dust that can be extremely dangerous when inhaled. Found in high concentrations, sometimes as much as twelve percent, in vermiculite ore, asbestos is very apparent in this refining process. This all being said there were not many precautions in place to prevent such a catastrophe from occurring. One interesting yet devastating fact about asbestos is once it is inhaled into the lungs it can never be expelled other than by means or surgery. Once inhaled it becomes trapped in your lungs, at which point your lungs begin to cover over the asbestos, leaving it permanently trapped in the capillaries of your lungs. An extreme build up of this can result in asbestosis, a hardening of the lungs due to inhaled asbestos. This is what many of the workers contracted and were never able to fully recover. The surgery to help undo this damage was both costly and often unsuccessful. One of the executives at the plant is filmed in the deposition saying he had in fact had asbestos removed from his lungs after learning about the dangers of the mill. This is a perfect example of the sociological term Two-Tier system of Medical Care. This system makes it possible for these wealthier high up executives to receive the proper medical treatment they needed in order to remove the extremely deadly asbestos from their lungs, while the average mill worker who needed the surgrery much more could not afford such a procedure.
Daniel Jenkins, testified for the asbestos-insulation manufacturers for several years. Also, Dr. Leary, a physician specialized in chest diseases who worked for Travelers Insurance Company, diagnosed Tomplait with emphysema, and did not mention asbestosis. Leary’s finding was completely refuted when Dr. Selikoff reviewed Tomplait’s X-rays and said that his diagnosis of extensive pulmonary asbestosis is “as certain as anything can be in medicine”. Asbestos manufacturing companies and their lawyer similarly, denied knowledge of the association between asbestos exposure and lung disease, and argued consistently in every lawsuit that this association wasn’t known until Selikoff’s landmark article that was published in 1964. It was made conspicuous, however, that “literally hundreds of studies were published” in the 1920s and 1930s on the association between asbestos exposure and asbestosis. Stephenson was also able to compile a bibliography of 86 articles on asbestosis most of them published before 1938. Another example of the unethical conduct was what Dr. Cooper (an occupational health professor) said about not being able to have known that a 15% asbestos product would be unsafe in 1961, and that the early studies conducted in England, were on workers who were exposed to a lot heavier asbestos dust. Dr. Cooper also referred to a study conducted in 1945 by Fleisher et al that found low incidence (0.3%) of asbestosis among asbestos pipe covers (3 out of 1074). Despite the low incidence, the authors recommended the use of exhaust ventilation and to keep the total dust concentration low. In Fleisher’s study125, the majority (95%) of workers had been employed for less than 10 years, way less than the needed latency period to develop the disease. It is also a
Australia has the world’s second highest rate of mesothelioma. Each year about 700 people in Australia die from mesothelioma or asbestosis, according to Safe Work Australia, an Australian government statutory agency designated to improve work health and safety and workers’ compensation arrangements. Mesothelioma rates in Australia have climbed since the 1960s, initially from those exposed while working in mining and manufacturing professions, and now among home renovators, making it critical that better treatments are
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), exposure to asbestos increases the risk of developing malignant Mesothelioma. The latency period for the disease is
Low levels of assurance and the absence of push to control the introduction of people to asbestos has created mesothelioma litigation, prompting harm. The unawareness of the laborers of the asbestos introduction causes them to defer the important therapeutic treatment. The treatment of mesothelioma is extremely costly. One can't pay for it in at their own cost. The individual who has created mesothelioma through presentation to asbestos can look for prompt legitimate help for greatest pay.
Asbestos related illnesses will continue to be a problem until all asbestos and asbestos-like materials are banned. Given the abatement processes are costly and require special training, this proves to be a very difficult process.
Despite being banned in Australia nowadays, asbestos can still be found in most of older construction, residential and commercial area as well as abandoned mining site. Studies show that the building workers, specifically the plumbers, gas fitters, carpenters and electricians the highest risk of getting mesothelioma, disease from asbestos fibres (Peto, J., Hodgson, J.T., Matthews, F.T., & Jacqueline, R., 1995). According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the number of mesotheliomas ' cases are increasing and expected to reach 18000 in recent. Though the asbestos is known as hazardous material, it can only affect the health if the asbestos fibres become airborne and are inhaled. The primary route for the asbestos to enter the body is through the inhalation processes of the contaminated air (Safework Australia, 2011). Unusually, small fibrous particles of
Its treatment is largely palliative, or intended to ease suffering, because the prognosis is fairly grim. Only about 20% of cases live to 5 years after diagnosis, with most surviving only one year, though much depends on how far the condition had developed by the time it was diagnosed. Chemotherapy and radiation treatment are used, but not successfully, and various degrees of surgery are also used. Removal of the affected lung, pericardium and half the diaphragm is the most major of these, and even that only extends life to a maximum of around five years from diagnosis.
Veterans are a special group. Unfortunately, today men and women are at higher risk than the general population for developing asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma cancer. Of this group rely on asbestos past, the main cause of the disease, and the results of these operations as they leave the VA do private service. Asbestos is making it a useful tool for all branches of the military so once was considered for the heat-resistant and fire correction. Ships, tanks, cars, all modes of transportation, such as military aircraft are contained asbestos.
Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos without sufficient protection over one’s mouth and nose. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral which was discovered in the 1860s but not properly used until the 1930s. Asbestos was used hugely in construction due to its property of being fireproof even at high temperatures. It was not until the 1960s that it became clear that asbestos was causing a number of diseases. These diseases include mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.
The federal government established multiple organizations, including OSHA and the Environmental Protection Agency, to protect workers from dangerous occupational conditions such as asbestos exposure. An estimated five million workers in America are required to wear respirators at work because of OSHA regulations. Frequently cited OSHA standard violation is respiratory protection, which involves harmful dusts, gases and vapors, and more specifically, microscopic asbestos
What is asbestos you ask? Well asbestos is the name for a group of naturally occurring silicate minerals that can be separated into fibers. The fibers are strong, durable, and resistant to heat and fire. They are also long, thin, and flexible, so that they can even be woven into cloth. Because of these qualities, asbestos has been used in thousands if consumer, industrial, maritime, automotive, scientific and building products. During the twentieth century, some 30 million tons of asbestos were used in industrial sites, homes, schools, shipyards and commercial buildings in the United States.
Despite its popular qualities, it was discovered that when asbestos is airborne and inhaled, it could cause lung cancer. Today, there are regulations in place that attempt to ban the substance, limit its exposure, and safely remove the substance from existing structures. According to Larson in Table 6.1 “Chemical Carcinogens in the Workplace”, asbestos is a chemical carcinogen that can be found in the workplace and poses a great danger to workers:
It is believe that over 1 million people living in India are being occupationally exposed to asbestos.12 This does not even include the millions that live near the factories where asbestos is used. Studies by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), which is an autonomous government scientific body based in Ahmedabad, India, have found lung impairments and radiological abnormalities in 54.8% of asbestos milling workers and 19.5% in asbestos miners.12 Like the U.S, India does have restrictions on asbestos ambient air dust levels which are set to 2 f/cc per 30 minutes, however it has been found that these limits are not practiced and on average milling factories were found to have more than 33 times the legal limit of asbestos present.12 While there are restrictions in