Monday, December 20, 2010

Mesothelioma: An Aggressive, Deadly Cancer That’s on the Rise

Diagnoses of mesothelioma, a highly aggressive and nearly always fatal cancer, are on the rise. So much so that in 2010, mesothelioma cases—the result of exposure to asbestos decades earlier—are expected to peak in the United States.

That’s sobering news to patients, researchers, and the mesothelioma lawyers who have been fighting for justice, accountability, and compensation—often quite successfully—for those struck down by the asbestos-related disease.

The health risks of asbestos exposure were scientifically proven years ago. So why the increase in mesothelioma at a time when the dangers of asbestos are common knowledge and strict laws are in place regulating asbestos use, removal, and handling? Asbestos exposure is the single known cause of this horrific disease.

A big reason why diagnoses are peaking now: the latency period for mesothelioma, which is often 20 or 30 years or more after asbestos fibers are inhaled into the lungs or ingested.

Once diagnosed, mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the cells lining the body’s internal organs, is irreversible, and the patient’s prognosis is grim. There is no cure for mesothelioma, or even an effective long-term treatment. For most patients, their only relief is the courtroom, where mesothelioma lawyers have won large, often multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements against those responsible for exposing them to asbestos.

Mesothelioma is not the only condition that can be triggered by asbestos exposure. Lung cancer, too, is a common ailment plaguing those who have inhaled asbestos particles—something that can easily happen even today, when asbestos is disturbed in the course of renovation or demolition work and fibers are released into the air.

In medical practices across the country—particularly those in communities with large populations of retired asbestos workers—doctors report seeing a new uptick in the steady stream of mesothelioma cases.
Dr. Roy Smythe, chairman of the department of surgery for Scott & White Healthcare in Texas, reports that he sees two to four new mesothelioma patients a month—and for each of these, there is probably another patient seen by another doctor at the clinic.

Texas has developed into a focal point for mesothelioma cases due to the high number of residents who were exposed to asbestos years ago while working in the oil and refining industry. Others worked along the Gulf Coast in shipbuilding—another line of work where asbestos exposure was common.

Smythe says he’s seen patients who have worked as insulators, pipe fitters, roofers, and many other jobs that entailed significant exposure to asbestos-containing materials.

With their lives and finances in dire shape, many of these individuals are seeing mesothelioma lawyers as well. Victims are, of course, not looking to lawyers for a cure, but for the compensation that will make the future easier for their families—and help send the message that asbestos exposure has all-too-real consequences.

This news story was brought to you by the mesothelioma lawyers at Cooney & Conway. For more than half a century, we’ve brought relief—and recovery—to those injured by the negligence or harmful actions of others.
In the process, we’ve litigated some of the country’s most significant asbestos lawsuits, helping victims of mesothelioma, lung cancer, and other asbestos-related diseases get answers—and justice.

Source

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Mesothelioma Fund in Australia Receives Boost

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 

Australia has recently completed a $160 million loan to the state of New South Wales in order to help James Hardie Industries NV continue compensating asbestos victims. The biggest seller of home siding in the United States, James Hardie Industries has been unable to contribute to the asbestos fund due to the poor U.S. housing market.

According to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, New South Wales will contribute an equal amount of money to the Asbestos Injuries Compensation Fund each time the loan is drawn down. The interest on the loan to New South Wales, which is to be repaid by June 30, 2020, will be set at a rate equal to Australia’s cost of borrowing.

Gillard said, “The profitability of James Hardie has been affected by the global financial crisis and that has affected its ability to make contributions into the fund in recent times. We are giving certainty to James Hardie asbestos victims that there are funds available to meet their claims.”

Due to the extensive use of asbestos throughout the 20th century, Australia has one of the highest incidences of mesothelioma in the world. Malignant mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure.

While strict regulations on the use of asbestos have been in force for quite some time, Australian residents are still developing asbestos-related diseases because of the severe latency period associated with symptoms. Mesothelioma symptoms can take as long as 50 years to arise from the time of a person’s initial exposure to asbestos.

In other news, New South Wales recently introduced legislation to increase the lump sum payment to families of asbestos victims by as much as $65,000. Michael Daley, New South Wales Finance Minister, raised the compensation from $245,700 to $311,050.

Additional information on mesothelioma may be found through the Mesothelioma Center.

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Sunday, December 12, 2010

CTS: Fibrous Mineral Linked to Mesothelioma

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: December 10, 2010

CHICAGO -- A naturally-occurring, asbestos-like mineral may be placing residents of North Dakota -- and elsewhere in the U.S. -- at risk for malignant mesothelioma, researchers found.

Exposure to erionite, whose fibers are physically -- but not chemically -- similar to those of asbestos, has been tied to unprecedented rates of malignant mesothelioma in villages in Cappadocia, a region in Turkey, according to Michele Carbone, MD, PhD, of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu.

Over the past few years, Carbone and his colleagues -- including researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Geological Survey, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) -- have characterized the erionite exposure in Dunn County, N.D., where the mineral has been included in gravel used to make roads over the past two to three decades.

Reporting at the Chicago Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology, Carbone said that mean erionite exposures measured along roads, indoors, and inside vehicles traveling along contaminated roads are equal to or greater than those found in the village of Boyali, where malignant mesothelioma accounts for 6.2% of all deaths.

Exposures were lower, however, than those found in villages in which the disease accounts for 26% to 52% of all deaths.

Because erionite has a latency period of 30 years or more, Carbone said, an uptick in mesothelioma cases has not been seen in North Dakota, although there is concern for the future.

That concern is underscored by a recent study released by the North Dakota Department of Health and the EPA, which found that in 33 people who had high erionite exposure either from working in gravel pits or on road maintenance, there was a significant increase in the pleural changes compared with male transportation workers with low cumulative asbestos fiber exposure (17.6% versus 1.5%).

Erionite deposits are also present in 12 other states -- all in the western half of the country -- and Carbone said exposures in those areas are unknown.

He and his colleagues set out to compare exposures in the Turkish villages to those in North Dakota, taking air samples in both places.

Mean exposures in North Dakota were near the lower range of exposures found in Turkey.

The physical and chemical properties of erionite were similar in samples taken from both sites. In cultures of mesothelial cells, both North Dakota and Turkish erionite induced programmed cell necrosis and the release of the cytokines HMBG1 and TNF-alpha.

Those processes have been linked to mineral fiber carcinogenesis, Carbone said.

The same inflammatory effects were seen in rats exposed to the erionite samples.

Carbone said that people living in areas where erionite is found should not panic, because the risk of developing malignant mesothelioma is low, even for highly exposed populations. He cited a study of South African miners who had exposures to asbestos lasting 10 years or more. In that population, 5% developed the disease.

Study co-author Aubrey Miller, MD, MPH, senior medical adviser of the NIEHS, said immediate measures to cut off the exposures have been implemented in North Dakota. Although erionite is not a regulated mineral, the state has limited its use for state-funded projects, and has released advisories warning of the danger. Roads containing erionite will be paved over.

Carbone and his colleagues have also begun studying biomarkers for the early detection of mesothelioma, which cannot be treated when it spreads but may be treated with some impact in its early stages.

But the best way to manage malignant mesothelioma is to prevent it from developing in the first place, said Roy Herbst, MD, PhD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, who moderated a press briefing at which the findings were presented.

And, he added, "even though mesothelioma rates are low, it's one of the diseases that clearly has a causative agent -- that being these fibers, asbestos or erionite -- so if we can try to prevent this, that will pay dividends for many years to come."

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