Mesothelioma and Asbestos

Asbestos, a mineral fiber formerly used among manufacturers and builders, can cause many diseases that result in irreversible lung damage and, often, death. The most common diseases linked to asbestos exposure are mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.

MR. MICHAEL B. LEH: Asbestos fiber is a naturally occurring mineral with some remarkable qualities. It's essentially fireproof and indestructible. Because of that, it's been used in a wide variety of industries. It's been used in insulation products. It's been used in brakes. Any industry in which it's useful to have a mineral--to use a mineral that can be easily woven into textiles or other products and provide fireproofing and indestructibility is an industry where you'll find asbestos used. Unfortunately, the very same thing that makes asbestos so useful makes it very dangerous, because just as asbestos fibers are indestructible outside of the body, they're also indestructible inside the body, and once a person breathes in those asbestos fibers, the body tries to destroy them, and that can cause harm to the body in a number of different ways. It can cause scarring, which is called asbestosis, which is a non-cancerous condition but can be very serious. The body continues to try to destroy the asbestos fibers long after the person inhales those fibers into the body, and the longer the body tries to destroy those fibers, the more and more scar tissue builds up around the fibers, which causes the asbestosis to worsen and worsen. This can eventually encase the entire lungs and lead to severe shortness of breath, requiring oxygen or even ultimately, in rare cases, death. In addition to causing asbestosis, asbestos exposure can cause various forms of cancer. It can cause intestinal cancers. It can cause lung cancer, and it can cause mesothelioma. These cancers are caused by the body attempting to expel or destroy the asbestos fibers, and the result is the formation for reasons that nobody truly understands of cancer cells that then spread throughout the body. All of these cancers are very serious, but mesothelioma is by far the worst and the most serious. Mesothelioma can occur many years after exposure. In fact, the latency period between the last exposure to asbestos and the development of the disease, although it can be as short as ten years, can be as much as 40 or 50 years. It is always fatal, with an average life expectancy of no more than a year or a year and a half, and there really is no treatment for it, other than treatment to try to extend the lifespan or to make the life a little bit easier during the illness. Particularly chemotherapy and radiation treatment are the only known treatments for mesothelioma. Unlike asbestosis and even lung cancer, which require a fairly heavy dose of asbestos exposure in order to cause the disease, mesothelioma can be caused by very slight exposure. There is no known safe level of exposure to asbestos which will not cause mesothelioma. Mesothelioma has been reported in people who just live in the neighborhoods where asbestos mines or factories are located. It's also been reported quite frequently among family members of asbestos workers. Children or spouses become ill because they washed the clothes of their husbands or fathers or just because they're around their family member who brings home the fibers on his clothing.