Pleural mesothelioma reported in a school teacher: asbestos exposure due to DAS paste

The hazardous legacy exposures of school children and art teachers to  materials containing asbestos fiber, ie. Fibro Clay, and its causal relationship to mesothelioma, has been reported in a recent medical journal. Today's post is partially shared from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed

BACKGROUND:

Malignant mesothelioma cases among primary school teachers are usually linked with asbestos exposure due to the mineral contained in the building structure. Among the approximately 12,000 cases of mesothelioma described in the fourth report of the National Mesothelioma Register, 11 cases of primary school teachers are reported, in spite of the fact that the "catalogue of asbestos use" does not describe circumstances of asbestos exposure other than or different to that due to asbestos contained in the buildings. Four cases in the Brescia Provincial Mesothelioma Register are identified as teachers, without this circumstance of exposure.

Malignant Mesothelioma Treatment (PDQ®)

Today's post was shared by Linda Reinstein and comes from www.cancer.gov

Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the lining of the chest or abdomen. Malignant mesothelioma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells are found in the pleura (the thin layer of tissue that lines the chest cavity and covers the lungs) or the peritoneum (the thin layer of tissue that lines the abdomen and covers most of the organs in the abdomen). This summary is about malignant mesothelioma of the pleura. Respiratory anatomy; drawing shows right lung with upper, middle, and lower lobes; left lung with upper and lower lobes; and the trachea, bronchi, lymph nodes, and diaphragm. Inset shows bronchioles, alveoli, artery, and vein. Being exposed to asbestos can affect the risk of malignant mesothelioma. Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn’t mean that you will not get cancer. Talk to your doctor if you think you may be at risk. Many people with malignant mesothelioma have worked or lived in places where they inhaled or swallowed asbestos. After being exposed to asbestos, it usually takes a long time for malignant mesothelioma to form. Other risk factors for malignant mesothelioma include the following: Possible signs of malignant mesothelioma include shortness of breath and pain under the rib cage. Sometimes the cancer causes fluid to collect around the lung or in the abdomen. These symptoms may...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• Asbestos Can Take Your Breath Away, Forever (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Mesothelioma, Other Cancers Higher Among Firefighters (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Georgia-Pacific Reports Show Corporations Can't Be Trusted (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Mesothelioma Asbestos Cancer Claims the Life of Ed Lauter, Prolific Actor (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• That time Big Tobacco sold asbestos as the "Greatest Health Protection in Cigarette History" (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• ADAO Special Report "The USA Asbestos Toxic Trade Continues" (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Facing lawsuits over deadly asbestos, paper giant launched secretive research program

By 2007, the Georgia-Pacific research program, approved by Childs, was in full swing. The first step was to try to re-create both wet and dry asbestos-containing joint compound since, Holm said in his deposition, no usable amounts of actual product could be located. The re-created compound was applied to wallboard, allowed to dry and then sanded. The dust was shipped to a laboratory near Geneva, where Bernstein supervised a series of rat experiments. Lab workers wore “moon suits” to protect themselves from asbestos fibers. In a pilot study, the rats were divided into three groups of 14 and confined in tubes for five days, six hours a day. The control group breathed filtered air. The second group breathed chrysotile fibers, the third a mixture of chrysotile and aerosolized joint compound particles. The rats were killed after exposure and their lungs and pleural tissue were examined. The “chrysotile exposed lungs had the same appearance as the filtered-air controls,” Bernstein and his co-investigators reported. No obvious lung damage, in Bernstein’s view, translated to little or no cancer risk. In a later experiment, one group of rats inhaled re-created Ready-Mix containing chrysotile. Another group inhaled amosite asbestos, part of the amphibole family. The rats exposed to chrysotile showed “no pathology in either the lung or the pleural cavity,” Holm testified in his deposition. Those that breathed amosite showed “both...

[Click here to see the rest of this post]

Found on

Related articles

• Scientific improprieties in the asbestos industry funded research of McGill professor (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• ADAO Special Report "The USA Asbestos Toxic Trade Continues" (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Berkshire Hathaway subsidiaries deny, delay asbestos, hazard claims, suits, insiders allege (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Mesothelioma: Two Groundbreaking Trials Into Treatments for Asbestos-Related Cancer (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization New Infographic: Irrefutable Facts About Asbestos (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Think asbestos is banned in the US? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos Can Take Your Breath Away, Forever (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Carolina Asbestos Textile Industry Risk High Mortality

Image via WikipediaStudies of workers in two US cohorts of asbestos textile workers exposed to chrysotile (North Carolina (NC) and South Carolina (SC)) found increasing risk of lung cancer mortality with cumulative fibre exposure. However, the risk appeared to increase more steeply in SC, possibly due to differences in study methods. The authors conducted pooled analyses of the cohorts and investigated the exposure-disease relationship using uniform cohort inclusion criteria and statistical methods.

Increased rates of lung cancer were significantly associated with cumulative fibre exposure overall and in both the Carolina asbestos-textile cohorts. Previously reported differences in exposure-response between the cohorts do not appear to be related to inclusion criteria or analytical methods.

Related articles

• The Toxic Legacy of Raybestos-Manhattan Continues (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Automobile Mechanics Should Be Cautious About Asbestos Exposure (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Canada's ongoing affair with asbestos (electrocorpairpurification.wordpress.com)

Automobile Mechanics Should Be Cautious About Asbestos Exposure

Many brakes and clutches used in new and recent model automobiles do not contain asbestos. However, it has not been totally eliminated. Some reports have indicated that many mechanics and employees in the automotive repair shops as well as do-it-yourselfers are unaware that asbestos may be present in both old and replacement brakes and clutches.

OSHA’s asbestos standard requires the use of controls and safe work practices when employees work with brake shoes and clutches that contain asbestos. These requirements are detailed in 29 CFR 1910.1001 and specifically 1910.1001(f)(3) and Appendix F of the standard - Work Practices and Engineering Controls for Automotive Brake and Clutch Inspection, Disassembly, Repair and Assembly (http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/asbestos/index.html). The requirements also are discussed in the Federal Register at 59 FR 40964, 40985-87 (August 10, 1994) and 60 FR 33983 (June 29, 1995), as well as in OSHA Directive CPL 2-2.63 (revised).

Asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral fiber that is highly heat resistant, can cause serious health problems when inhaled into the lungs. If products containing asbestos are disturbed, thin, lightweight asbestos fibers can be released into the air. Persons breathing the air may breathe in asbestos fibers. Continued exposure can increase the amount of fibers deposited in the lung. Fibers embedded in the lung tissue over time may result in lung diseases such as asbestosis, lung cancer, or mesothelioma. It can take from 10 to 40 years or more for symptoms of an asbestos-related condition to appear. Smoking increases the risk of developing illness from asbestos exposure.

All automotive brake and clutch repair facilities in the United States must comply with the OSHA asbestos standard. The proper use of engineering controls and work practices by properly trained employees working on automotive brakes and clutches will reduce their asbestos exposure below the permissible exposure level of 0.1 fiber per cubic centimeter of air, expressed as an 8-hour time-weighted average. Respiratory protection is not required during brake and clutch jobs where the control methods described below are used.

The two preferred OSHA methods to control asbestos dust during brake and clutch repair and service are: (1) a negative pressure enclosure/HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) vacuum system, and (2) the low pressure/wet cleaning method. The employer may use other methods (in conjunction with written procedures), to reduce exposure to levels equivalent to the negative pressure enclosure/HEPA vacuum system. For facilities that inspect, disassemble, reassemble and/or repair five or fewer brake or clutch jobs per week, the wet method (described in paragraph D of Appendix F) can be used. The spray can/solvent system method can be used as an alternative preferred method since it meets the equivalency criterion of the negative pressure enclosure/HEPA vacuum system method. Proper training is essential to ensure that employees use the methods in an effective manner.

More information:

Current Best Practices For Preventing Asbestos Exposure Among Brake and Clutch Repair Worker

.....

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman  1.973.696.7900  jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered occupational accidents and illnesses. 

Related articles

• Why is the US Still in the Asbestos Business? (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• $2 Million Verdict to Plastic Compounder Suffering Mesothelioma - Call For Asbestos Ban (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• The Toxic Legacy of Raybestos-Manhattan Continues (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Home Renovation Cited As An Increased Risk for Mesothelioma (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos, Railroads and The US Supreme Court (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)
• Asbestos Disease Claims Continue to Surge (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

A New Wave of Disease - Cleaners Asthma

Workers exposed to chlorine agents have been diagnosed with respiratory impairments. A recent study has reported that "suggest that bleach inhalation at a concentration of 0.4 ppm—a concentration below 8-hr permissible occupational exposure level—brings about a substantial decrease in FEV1 in subjects."

"Included in the study were thirteen cleaning employees with work-related asthma-like symptoms, three asthmatic controls and three atopic subjects without bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) who had no exposure to cleaning products. The study protocol consisted of a methacholine test, sputum induction and fraction of exhaled nitric oxide measurement (FENO) both at baseline and 24 hr after a 1-hr inhalation challenge with either placebo or bleach at a concentration of 0.4 ppm of chlorine."

.....

For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered work related accident and injuries.

Related articles

• Occupational asthma - All Information (umm.edu)
• Managing Asthma and Asthma Medications (allergizer.com)
• EC Publishes Criteria to Diagnose Occupational Illness

Lung Cancer Risk High Despite Absence of Asbestosis Diagnosis

Asbestos workers continue to have a higher risk for lung cancer even if asbestos findings are not present on x-ray. A recent report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine concludes, "Workers from an Ontario asbestos-cement factory who did not have radiographic asbestosis at 20 or 25 years from first exposure to asbestos continued to have an increased risk of death from lung cancer during an additional 12 years of follow-up." 


Click here to read more about workers' compensation and claims for benefits. For over 3 decades the Law Offices of Jon L. Gelman 1.973.696.7900 jon@gelmans.com  have been representing injured workers and their families who have suffered asbestos related illnesses.