A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has come to some rather alarming conclusions. The report was based on a study of deaths in the United States from mesothelioma (a type of a fatal cancer uniquely caused by exposure to asbestos) for the years 1999 to 2015. They cut the study off at 2015 because there is no data presently available after that year.
The CDC conclusions include:
- During the 1999 to 2015 time period there were a total of 45,221mesothelioma deaths reported in the United States.
- The number of deaths increased from 2,479 in 1999 to 2,597 in 2015.
- The mesothelioma deaths increased for persons who were over the age of 85.
- There was a continuing occurrence of mesothelioma deaths in people under the age of 55.
- Statutory regulations to minimize exposure to asbestos have not been successful in curtailing the effects of this terrible disease.
Asbestos regulations are enacted both by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and also the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). OSHA began regulating worksite exposure to asbestos in 1971 and the EPA regulates how buildings containing asbestos must be demolished and renovated. The statistics cited above show that despite these regulatory schemes, people are still contracting and dying from mesothelioma in the United States. One of the sources of exposure may well be that even though asbestos production in the United States stopped around 2002, it still can be imported into this country and used in every day consumer items such as soap, fertilizers, and alkaline batteries. According to the U.S. Geological survey, 350 metric tons of asbestos were used in the United States in 2015.
Despite the intentions of Congress to curtail the incidence of asbestos disease deaths in the United States, people are still being exposed to, becoming sick from and dying from asbestos. The lawyers at the Locks Firm have been representing individuals with asbestos disease for over 40 years in courts throughout the United States. If you or a loved one should become diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness, we stand ready to counsel and represent you.
