Are you at risk of Mesothelioma?If you are above 40 and have ever been exposed to asbestos continuously for more than 2 months in last 15-40 years, then you are at risk of Mesothelioma. It is a rare but deadly cancer of membrane cells, which covers some vital parts of our body like lungs, abdominal cavity and heart, called mesothelium. Like in other cancers, in mesothelioma the membrane cells divide ruthlessly causing abnormal growth, which ultimately damage the lining of vital organ such as lungs and abdomen.

Causes of Mesothelioma

Asbestos a mineral, used in different processes including building, shipyard and manufacturing in the days of World War II and for a few more decades, is the main cause of Mesothelioma. Researches have proved that those who have worked in asbestos related industries are mostly at risk of Mesothelioma. The minute asbestos particles go into human body through nose or mouth during inhalation, talking or any other reason. They reach lungs or abdomen and damage the lining, causing Mesothelioma. Due to its long latency period, mesothelioma can attack you even 15 - 40 years after the inhalation of asbestos particles. Even the family members of person working in asbestos related industries could be vulnerable to mesothelioma.

Treatments for Mesothelioma

Because Mesothelioma is a newly found disease, many doctors may not be able to diagnose it. However, if you have a known history of asbestos exposure you should ask your doctor to look for the symptoms of this disease. The good news is that there is a treatment for mesothelioma in the early stages. Some treatment options for mesothelioma cancers are surgical removal of the effected tissues; chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the prognosis of later stage mesothelioma patients is bleak and the average survival time after diagnosis is 12-24 months.

Mesothelioma Compensations

The owners of Asbestos related industries were quite aware of the health hazards of asbestos. However, they persisted with its use without issuing any warnings or taking steps for avoiding the health hazards. This is the reason why US courts have awarded huge sums as compensations to the Mesothelioma patients/families by the companies/persons responsible for causing asbestos exposure.

More men and women die from lung cancer than any other cancers. Who is most susceptible to this disease? Nearly 70 percent of the elderly 65 and older will be diagnosed with this disease. Three percent of lung cancer cases have appeared in people younger than 45 years old.Until the 1930s, cancer of the lungs was not as prevalent but still quite common. However, once there was an increase of tobacco smoking use, lung cancer cases rose drastically. As information and education circulates about the hidden dangers of smoking, lung cancer related deaths are beginning to see a decline. Despite all the education and the public awareness, it’s still a common human cancer. For women, breast cancer is no longer the number one killer. Lung cancer has exceeded breast cancer related deaths.

Lung Cancer Causes

Smoking - Most lung cancer related deaths (about 90 percent) have been associated with smoking. Each time a person smokes a cigarette, they increase their chances of getting lung cancer. Based upon doctors’ formula regarding the quantity of packs to the amount of years smoked, someone who has a 30 pack to year history has a greater chance to develop lung cancer. For those people who smoke two, three or more packs a day, statistics show that one in seven diagnosed will die from the disease. Cigarette smoking is not the only culprit to lung cancer. Cigar smoking and pipe smoking can also lead to the disease at a lower rate. Those who smoke cigars or pipe smoke are five times more likely to get lung cancer than a person who never smoked.

The smoke found in tobacco has over 4,000 element compounds. Many of these are cancer causing. Two key carcinogens are polycyclic aromatic hdrycarbons and nitrosamines. Once a person has given up tobacco use, lung cancer risks decreases every year. Normal cells will begin to grow and outnumber damaged lung cells. After 15 years of not smoking, lung processes and the threat of the disease gets close to that of someone who has never smoked.

Passive Smoking - What is passive smoking? This is when people who are in close quarters smokers breathe in the smoke filled air. Those who don’t smoke have a 24 percent likelihood to develop lung cancer if they live with a smoker. Nearly 3,000 deaths can be associated with passive smoking.

Asbestos Fibers - Mesothelioma and lung cancer through asbestos exposure is high. People who work in asbestos related fields and smoke dramatically increase their chances of getting a lung cancer connected disease. When compared with their non smoking counterparts, they have a 50 to 90 percent greater risk of getting lung cancer or other lung related illness.

Radon Gas - Radon gas has been documented to be the next leading cause in lung cancer deaths, killing anywhere from 15,000 to 22,000 people in the United States every year. Like asbestos exposure, radon exposure augments lung cancer risks. The gas is able to travel through soil. It can gain entrance into homes by the gaps found in its foundation, its drains and its pipes. Nearly one in 15 homes is found with dangerous level of radon gas according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Can a person tell if their home has high amounts of radon gas? Only by a kit. The gas cannot be smelled, nor can be it seen.

Genetics - It’s true that most cases of lung cancer can be linked back to smoking. However, not every smoker will get the disease. That means other factors like genetics could play a part behind the causes of lung cancer. Studies have revealed that cancer can and does occur in families that have smokers and nonsmokers. It would seem a gene can increase the vulnerability of smokers in getting lung cancer.

Lung Diseases - When a smoker or even non smoker has other lung diseases such as COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), they are at an increased risk to develop the disease even if they quit smoking and all the effects have worn away.

History of Lung Disease - People with a record of lung cancer are at a higher risk of developing it a second time. People who have survived a non-small cell lung cancers have a one to two percent risk to getting the disease a second time while those who have beaten small cell lung cancers have a six percent increase each year.

Air Pollution - The chances of getting lung cancer from air pollution is raised in individuals that breathe in polluted air every day. Pollution from cars, power plants and industrialized areas increases these risks. Yet, they only account for one percent of lung cancer related deaths. Experts have suggested that every day exposure to air heavily polluted can be compared to passive smoking.

Medical records that pertain to asbestosis or mesothelioma must be dug up from the archives of the past. Without medical record collections and retrievals, the forewarnings of impending asbestosis and mesothelioma come only from witnessing the sufferings of an asbestosis patient or the languishing death of a mesothelioma cancer patient.Asbestosis and mesothelioma statistics are sharply under-estimated due to the lack of many nations to implement an efficient medical retrieval system and properly care for and diagnose lung disease patients who are suffering from asbestosis or mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure. In many nations, physicians that are able to properly diagnose the disease are rarely, if ever, available. These same nations often have poor record keeping systems in place to monitor health trends and examine medical histories. Many times asbestosis and mesothelioma are simply referenced as “lung disease,” without a proper determination of the classification of lung disease.

Years pass before these progressive lung diseases start showing their scarring presence, but an archive of medical history can facilitate proper diagnosis, and national archives of medical histories can facilitate early warnings. Despite this knowledge, India has no cancer registry, nor does it have a system for recording mesothelioma and asbestosis cases. In the Philippines, the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) reports that asbestos caused diseases will be under diagnosed due to low employer participation in submitting medical records to a central agency. (Less than 5% of employers do so.)

In Brazil, where corporations scurry to cover any implications of occupational hazards or ill will, medical records are virtually non-existent for asbestos workers. The Eternit asbestos plant in Brazil has had asbestos workers for over 50 years, yet no medical records were ever kept prior to 1978. In China, death records are purged and permanently eliminated after death, leaving no source for documenting trends in deaths or comparisons and similarities between diseases. And although China is one of the top five asbestos producers and users in the world, this nation continues to have a minimal amount of empirical studies on the implications of asbestos exposure.

Fortunately, in many nations, allowable exposure limits are being reduced, inspections are being heightened, and politicians and corporations are being pressured. Environmental groups and protection agencies continue to test asbestos material and promote its eventual ban. Unfortunately, politics and corporations still govern irresponsible asbestos promotions, and millions of innocent people are unaware of its dangers. The lack of public awareness has led to a deadly economic dependency on asbestos.

Asbestosis and mesothelioma deaths need to be recorded, death records need to be maintained, and medical histories of asbestos workers need to be compiled to gain a full realization of the statistical and economical impact of the world’s burgeoning asbestosis and mesothelioma crisis. Asbestosis and mesothelioma records are useless, however, unless they are used to promote change and develop public awareness - which is precisely what the mining and trading nations are afraid of.

The lung diseases asbestosis and mesothelioma have been proven for decades to be a result of asbestos exposure. Yet, asbestos continues to be mined, and employers still fail to protect workers from the dangers of asbestos. Faint warnings to the public have been made barely audible, and a deadly global health epidemic is looming on the horizon.Asbestosis and mesothelioma are the subjects of 21st century international reports warning international officials, advocacy workers, and the general public of an impending epidemic of these two devastating diseases. Asbestosis and mesothelioma, which are caused by exposure to asbestos, take decades to surface symptoms, and the retired workers of yesteryear’s thriving asbestos industries are beginning to suffer from asbestos related diseases today.

In countries like Brazil, workers suffered decades under corrupt politics, medical care was discouraged, workers were randomly dismissed from employment, and diagnostic tests were not made available to support any identification or claim for asbestosis or mesothelioma. It is only recently that unions protecting workers have surfaced, but for thousands of asbestos workers, it is too late to avoid succumbing to the harsh lung disease of asbestosis or the fatal cancer of mesothelioma.

As workers and innocent home dwellers continue to be exposed to asbestos, the death estimates due to asbestos related diseases will continue to reach into the next half century. Factories in China spew asbestos from their factories into neighboring cities. In Africa, a state of emergency has been requested in asbestos filled territories where hundred-mile stretches are filled with residents living, working and sleeping while surrounded by airborne asbestos fibers. In India, the European Asbestos Removal Association (EARA) issued a 2008 report titled “India’s Asbestos Time Bomb” which warns of India’s future burden of caring for tens of thousands of asbestosis and mesothelioma patients as a result of India’s infatuation with asbestos products. In this asbestos removal report, comparisons are made between the export levels of India and the UK. In just two decades, India’s asbestos imports surpassed the levels that the UK used in their entire industrial history. The UK is now facing record levels of occupational disease, with thousands dying from mesothelioma every year. Despite the UK’s forewarning of the future, India continues to import massive tons of asbestos products annually, and corporations with significant monetary interest encourage unsuspecting consumers to embrace the use of asbestos products.

Even with indiscriminate medical records that deflate the actual deaths due to asbestosis and mesothelioma, the World Health Organization estimates that asbestosis and mesothelioma will be responsible for 90,000 deaths around the world in a single year. As long as asbestos continues to be mined, imported and exported - the numbers will continue to rise over the next century.

Asbestosis and mesothelioma are not diseases that are easily recognized by physicians or the lay citizen. The public must be made aware of the dangers of working with, and living with, asbestos made products. Scientists and manufacturers must race to discover the economic answer to replace asbestos products with a safer alternative. But with or without change, the next decade will surface the consequences of haphazard occupational healthcare as the children of tomorrow care for the asbestos workers of today