Mesothelioma Asbestos

A legal firm supports this site on Asbestos Mesothelioma, Asbestosis, and Other Problems - good historical information. 

In the cohort mortality studies of Libby, Montana, vermiculite workers exposed to tremolite asbestos, mesotheliomas were noted in 4 of the 165 deaths (proportionate mortality ratio [PMR] = 2.4%) studied by McDonald et al. (1986b) and 2 of the 161 deaths (PMR = 1.2%) studied by Amandus and Wheeler (1987). No mesotheliomas were identified among the 51 deaths in the cohort mortality study of vermiculite workers in a South Carolina mine and mill where airborne fiber concentrations were estimated to be much lower than in the Libby, Montana, workplaces (McDonald et al. 1988). Cohort mortality studies of other groups of vermiculite miners and millers were not located. 

Asbestos Respiratory tract - carcinoma Pleura and peritoneum -mesothelioma Gastrointestinal tract - carcinoma... 

Pelin, K. (1994). Asbestos-related malignant mesothelioma Tumor cel characteristics and mechanisms m fibre carcinogenesis. Academic diss.. University of Helsinki. 

Mesotheliomas are the characteristic asbestos-related tumours of the pleura. Exposure of explants of human pleura to crocidolite blue asbestos in culture produces a... 

Browne, K. (1983). Asbestos related mesothelioma epidemiological evidence for asbestos as a promoter. Arch. Environ. Health 38, 261-266. 

Mesothelioma A rare benign or malignant tumor affecting the lining of the chest or abdomen. Exposure to asbestos fibers is the most common risk factor for mesothelioma. 

Donaldson, K. et al. (2010) Asbestos, carbon nanotubes and the pleural mesothelium a review of the hypothesis regarding the role of long fibre retention in the parietal pleura, inflammation and mesothelioma. Particle and Fibre Toxicology, 7, 5. Hirsch, A. (2010) The era of carbon allotropes. Nat. Mater., 9 (11), 868-871. Tasis, D. et al. (2006) Chemistry of carbon nanotubes. Chemical Reviews, 106 (3), 1105-36. 

The plasma vitrification can be used also for asbestos waste which is a hazardous, fibrous, dusty material causing danger for human beings such as lung cancer - mesothelioma. 

The indestractibility of asbestos is in this respect a scientific stroke of luck. The fibres can still be detected even years later the combination of the cause asbestos with the effect mesothelioma was thus comparatively simple. Normally the correlations between occupational diseases and the use of hazardous substances are much less evident. 

The difficulties of adequate and reproducible diagnosis have interfered with determination of the incidence of mesothelioma. McDonald studied 11,000 Canadian chrysotile miners and, in 1980, reported that of the 4547 deaths in this group between 1910 and 1975, only 11 were recorded as resulting from mesothelioma (McDonald et al. 1980). At other sites, especially shipyards, mills, and manufacturing plants, other authors had reported higher incidences among individuals exposed to asbestos (e.g., Elmes et al., 1965 Newhouse and Thompson, 1965). Selikoff reported 15 mesotheliomas out of 199 deaths in 689 asbestos production and textile workers exposed between 1959 to 1971, although only 4 such deaths had been recorded before 1966 (Selikoff et al., 1972). 

The initial connection between asbestos and mesothelioma was made by Wagner et al. (1960), when all but one patient in a study of mesothelioma-related deaths were found to be miners, workers, members of their families, or others living in the area of South Africa where the amphibole-asbestos crocidolite was mined. A comparable occupational exposure to crocidolite has been documented in Australia, with similar results (Armstrong et al., 1984). Mann and his associates (1966) documented three cases of mesothelioma among fifty-four patients dying of pulmonary asbestosis, and in two of the patients the mesotheliomas were peritoneal rather than pleural. 

McDonald and his associates (1973) in Canada found that only 20 percent of mesothelioma cases had a documented history of significant exposure to asbestos, although Selikoff (1977) reported that 7.2 percent of the asbestos workers (in the United States) had the disease. Newhouse and Berry (1979) contended that mesothelioma was often misdiagnosed and stressed the difficulty of reconstructing reliable data on dust levels, especially when the time elapsed since exposure is more than 20 years. 

---