Background: Mesothelioma, as a lethal consequence of asbestos exposure, poses a significant threat to high-risk populations. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 update provides an opportunity to examine current mesothelioma epidemiology and assess whether asbestos bans have effectively reduced mesothelioma incidence over a longer time span … [Read more...]
Assessing trends and burden of occupational exposure to asbestos in the United States: a comprehensive analysis from 1990 to 2019
Background This study aimed to analyze the trends and burden of occupational exposure to asbestos in the United States (U.S.) from 1990 to 2019, focusing on mortality rates, geographic distribution, age and sex patterns, and causes of death. Methods Data on the number of deaths attributable to occupational exposure to asbestos were collected … [Read more...]
The U.S. banned asbestos, but its health impact will still be felt for decades
A new rule announced by the Environmental Protection Agency this week puts an end to the use of asbestos, a known carcinogen, in the United States. But researchers caution that we’ll likely still be dealing with the mineral’s public health harms for decades. The recently announced ban covers all forms of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos, … [Read more...]
US Bans Sole Type of Asbestos, Parts Industries Still Import
The US will ban the only type of raw asbestos fiber known to be imported to the country [(chrysotile asbestos)] as part of a broader rule that also will ban all known uses of the cancer-causing mineral and imported equipment made with it, top EPA and White House officials announced on Monday. Many people are shocked to learn asbestos isn’t … [Read more...]
Manufactured doubt and the EPA 2020 chrysotile asbestos risk assessment
While all forms of asbestos have been determined to be carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as well as other authoritative bodies, the relative carcinogenic potency of chrysotile continues to be argued, largely in the context of toxic tort litigation. Relatively few epidemiologic studies have investigated … [Read more...]
Does the Presence of Asbestos-Containing Materials in Buildings Post-construction and Before Demolition Have an Impact on the Exposure to Occupants in Non-occupational Settings?
Abstract This narrative review aims to determine if asbestos-containing materials in buildings pose a hazard to building occupants in non-occupational settings. This paper is limited to the post-construction and pre-demolition stages of a building. The researchers selected 19 studies from the 126 studies screened, concerning exposure to asbestos … [Read more...]
EPA Asks for More Public Input on Asbestos After ProPublica and Others Reveal New Information
The Environmental Protection Agency took an unusual step last week: It opened a new period in which the public can comment on its proposed asbestos ban. The agency had gotten new information, officials said, including a series of ProPublica reports on dangerous working conditions in factories that use asbestos to make chlorine. Asbestos has been … [Read more...]
Pleural Mesothelioma: A Rapid Evolution of an Indolent Disease
Mesothelioma is a rare and insidious neoplasm and is characterized by its highly malignant and aggressive nature. The most common etiology is asbestos exposure, but there are some reports without known asbestos exposure and other factors leading to malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Here, we present the case of a 58-year-old woman with … [Read more...]
Asbestos — two to three times more deadly than known
"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...]