"Clouds of dust were falling on us at every blow of the truncheon, but at that time we knew nothing about asbestos," recalled Jesús Ropero Calcerrada, a 73-year-old man who was tasked with scraping asbestos from railway carriages during his working life in Beasáin, in the Basque country in Spain. He and others were not offered any protection from … [Read more...]
They inhaled asbestos for decades on the job. Now, workers break their silence
Henry Saenz remembers when he first learned what even the tiniest bit of asbestos could do to his body. He was working at a chemical plant where employees used the mineral to make chlorine, and his coworkers warned him about what could happen each time he took a breath: Tiny fibers, invisible to the eye, could enter his nose and mouth and settle … [Read more...]
J&J, 2-stepping through talc litigation, faces fresh claims it hid workers’ asbestos exposure
Johnson & Johnson’s yearslong talc litigation saga has taken an unexpected turn. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan this week denied J&J’s bid to block a lawsuit [ in the talc litigation ] accusing the company of hiding evidence that its industrial talc operations exposed workers to asbestos, Bloomberg first reported. Decades back, … [Read more...]
EPA rule would finally ban asbestos, carcinogen still in use
The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed a rule to finally ban asbestos, a carcinogen that is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake pads and other products and kills thousands of Americans every year. The proposal marks a major expansion of EPA regulation under a landmark 2016 law that overhauled rules governing tens of … [Read more...]
Asbestos Exposure and Malignant Mesothelioma in Construction Workers—Epidemiological Remarks by the Italian National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM)
Notwithstanding the ban in 1992, asbestos exposure for workers in the construction sector in Italy remains a concern. The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of malignant mesothelioma (MM) cases recorded by the Italian registry (ReNaM) among construction workers. Incident mesothelioma cases with a definite asbestos exposure … [Read more...]
Environmental exposure to asbestos and the risk of lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Asbestos is a carcinogen associated with lung cancer, but few studies have examined the increased risk of lung cancer due to environmental asbestos exposure. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between environmental asbestos exposure and lung cancer. We searched for articles on non-occupational or … [Read more...]
Health groups sue to make EPA evaluate ‘legacy’ asbestos risk
Health and environmental groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency, seeking a court order compelling it to evaluate the risks posed by so-called "legacy" asbestos used in old products and buildings. In a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco, groups including the nonprofit Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization … [Read more...]
Why Asbestos Still Threatens Construction Workers’ Health
Asbestos continues to represent a considerable threat to the health of construction workers and the population at large. Though some applications for asbestos have been banned in the United States, the naturally occurring silicate mineral itself is not. The first use of asbestos is believed to date back to the Stone Age, approximately 750,000 … [Read more...]
Incidence of mesothelioma and asbestosis by occupation in a diverse workforce
Objective: We sought to characterize detailed patterns of mesothelioma and asbestosis incidence in the workforce as part of an occupational disease surveillance program in Ontario, Canada. Methods: The Occupational Disease Surveillance System (ODSS) cohort was established using workers' compensation claims data and includes 2.18 million workers … [Read more...]
Effect of Asbestos Exposure on the Frequency of EGFR Mutations and ALK/ROS1 Rearrangements in Patients With Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Multicentric Study
Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of asbestos exposure on cancer-driver mutations. Methods: Between January 2014 and September 2018, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), anaplastic lymphoma receptor tyrosine kinase (ALK), and c-ros oncogene 1 receptor tyrosine kinase gene (ROS1) alterations, demographic … [Read more...]