Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an aggressive asbestos-related tumour with poor prognosis. To date, a multimodality treatment, including chemotherapy and surgery, with or without radiotherapy, is the gold standard therapy for selected patients with epithelioid and early-stage MPM. In this setting, the goal of surgery is to achieve the … [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...]
EPA finds asbestos poses cancer risks for workers, reigniting calls for ban
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that [ asbestos dust ] poses an unreasonable risk of [ lung cancer and mesothelioma ] to both workers and consumers who inhale it, ramping up pressure on the agency to ban the substance. In a draft risk assessment published this week, the EPA said that workers who inhale [ asbestos dust ] … [Read more...]
Montana Supreme Court: BNSF Not Shielded from Liability in Libby Asbestos Cases
In a unanimous decision, the Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday determined that BNSF Railway Company is not shielded from liability for its role in spreading [ asbestos dust ] in the Northwest Montana town of Libby, where hundreds of people have died and thousands more are sick due to exposure. Facing hundreds of asbestos-related damage claims … [Read more...]
Philly School District poised to pay $850K to teacher diagnosed with mesothelioma
Lea DiRusso, the career city teacher diagnosed last year with a deadly asbestos-linked cancer, is in line to be paid $850,000 by the Philadelphia School District. The school board on Thursday night will consider a resolution allowing the district “to execute, deliver, and perform a settlement agreement” with DiRusso and Amr Osman, her husband, … [Read more...]
State Proposes ‘Asbestos Watch Area’ Near Old Davidson Mill
State environmental officials want to designate part of the west side of Davidson as an “asbestos watch area.” But the renewed discussion about asbestos from an old factory nearby is reviving concerns among residents in the historically African American neighborhood. The neighborhood around the former Carolina Asbestos factory near downtown … [Read more...]
Powder Keg: FDA bowed to industry for decades as alarms were sounded over talc
At an invitation-only gathering late last year, U.S. regulators and their guests huddled at a hotel near Washington, D.C., to discuss the best way to detect cancer-causing asbestos in talc powders and cosmetics. The “Asbestos in Talc Symposium,” sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration [ and intended to investigate asbestos in talc powders … [Read more...]
Cancer in the classroom
[Lea DiRusso was exposed to asbestos while teaching at schools for nearly 30 years, then this teacher is diagnosed with mesothelioma.] Every week during the school year, teacher Lea DiRusso climbed on a chair and hung her students’ best work on a clothesline strung between two old heating pipes. As she tugged the line down to clip on artwork or … [Read more...]
Hey, government people, have you heard about mesothelioma?
Just when you think it cannot become worse, it does. For many decades, we have known about the hazards of asbestos, as well as its relationship to mesothelioma and other thoracic and abdominal malignancies. We even see there is a growth industry among our friends in the legal world, with the emergence of for-profit firms apparently devoted only … [Read more...]