Rising Occupational Cancer Due To Asbestos Exposure

Feb. 22, 2012 - PRLog -- Apart from alcohol and tobacco smoking, it is known that three quarters of all cancers are caused by the main carcinogens of sunlight, silica, mineral oils - and the most predominant - exposure to asbestos. More than half of cancer diagnoses and over 80 per cent of actual deaths are related to both lung cancer and the malignant incurable cancer of the lung linings, mesothelioma.

World Health Organization figures show that between 1994 to 2008, global fatality from mesothelioma was over 92,250. In the UK alone, at least 2,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed annually and more than 1.8 million people are exposed to asbestos each year, according to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

Despite repeated and extensive asbestos awareness campaigns by HSE and other organisations such as the British Lung Foundation and Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support, exposure to asbestos in the UK and the attendant health risks can still be erroneously thought of by some occupations as a rare occurrence.

Despite the more dangerous forms - brown asbestos (amosite) and blue asbestos (crocidolite) - being banned in 1985 from manufacturing and industrial products, white asbestos (chrysotile) was still being used in the building sector until a ruling introduced in 1999, was enforced from January 2005.

As a result, the highest proportion of those individuals who are diagnosed with occupational cancer are those employed in the construction industry such as builders, plumbers and electricians, and where the principal causes are exposure to asbestos, silica mineral or direct sunlight.

While latest research from the HSE indicate around 13,500 new cases of occupational cancer occur each year, of which around 60 per cent are fatal, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has estimated that the true annual figure is likely to be more than 20,000.

White asbestos can often be present as an insulation material used in properties built up until the 1980s at least and if found in a fragile and disintegrating condition, the asbestos fibres are easily released in to the air as dust and inhaled. The fibres become permanently trapped in the linings of the lungs (pleura), causing tissue irritation, and eventually leading to asbestosis diseases or cells to form cancerous tumours, which can spread to other tissue linings of the body.

Unfortunately, a long gestation of between 15 to 50 years means that the first signs of mesothelioma or asbestosis symptoms tend to only emerge at a very advanced stage of the disease. Consequently, a patient’s survival rate from confirmed diagnosis is only around 4 months, possibly one year.

As the general lifespan of the population rises, potential exposure to carcinogens such as asbestos will also extend over a longer period of time and push up cancer figures. In 2008 alone, mesothelioma claimed over 2,250 deaths and in 2009, over 800 new cases of asbestosis were reported. It is forecast that asbestos exposure could claim 5,000 deaths each year by 2015.

Visit http://www.asbestosvictimadvice.com for more information and advice.

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