Asbestos Poisoning

ASBESTOS is a soft fibrous mineral, made into fireproof material or used for heat insulation. Most people with MALIGNANT MESOTHELIOMA type of cancer have worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos fibers.

ASBESTOS EXPOSURE

Even insignificant exposure to asbestos (commonly reported in such work environments as asbestos mills, mines, shipping yards, some older Navy ships or patients homes) is known to result in Mesothelioma. It is also known that family members of workers exposed to asbestos can contract this disease through exposure to the worker’s clothing. Wives and daughters who washed the overalls of asbestos workers are among those who have become infected with mesothelioma and died of asbestos poisoning. Smoking greatly increases the risk of contracting mesothelioma.

At Risk Job Locations:

Asbestos product manufacturing (insulation, roofing, building materials)

Automotive repair (brakes & clutches)
Construction/contractors
Maritime
Mines
Offshore rust removals
Oil refineries
Power plants
Railroads

Sand or abrasive manufacturers
Shipyards / ships / ship builders
Steel mills
Tile cutters

At Risk Occupations:

Auto Mechanics
Boiler makers

Bricklayers
Building Inspectors
Carpenters
Drywallers
Electricians
Floor Coverings
Furnace Workers
Glazers
Grinders

Hod carriers
Insulators
Iron workers
Laborers
Longshoremen
Maintenance workers
Merchant marines
Millwrights
Operating Engineers

Painters
Plasterers
Plumbers
Roofers
Sand blasters
Sheet metal workers
Steam fitters
Tile setters
Welders

U.S. Navy veterans
Welders

Many occupations have an increased risk for developing asbestos cancer. For example, asbestos insulation workers have 92 times the risk of developing of lung cancer, and smelter workers have 3-8 times the risk of developing lung cancer. The risk of asbestos cancer is also increased in people who work in the manufacturing of certain industrial gases, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents, paints, inorganic pigments, plastics, and synthetic rubber.

ASBESTOS EXPOSURE PROTECTION

Companies are now obliged to follow regulations with regards to asbestos in the work place. Employers must provide the necessary safety equipment and clothes for those at risk from exposure, and employees must comply using all protective equipment required. However, anybody that still has concerns about asbestos exposure should feel free to speak to their manager or union, or can also approach a professional body such as the Health & Safety Department or Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

Many asbestos-containing products remain in buildings, ships, industrial facilities and other environments where the fibers can become airborne.

It is estimated that 27.5 million Americans were exposed to Asbestos Poisoning between 1940 and 1979. The Health and Safety Executive statistics indicate that 25% of deaths will be in men who worked in the building industry and that carpenters and joiners are most commonly afflicted.

These men have often been self employed in small enterprises or engaged in do it yourself home improvements.

It is estimated that until 2020 in Europe half a million people will die of mesothelioma - 100 thousand in France alone.

Also, between the years 2010 and 2020 an epidemic of this disease will occur all over the planet. Only then the tumor will manifest on workers exposed to asbestos poisoning in the 70’s and 80’s, decades of higher use and exposure.