I admit that I’m a news junky. Recently, however, I feel like the news has been stuck on rewind. CNN, ABC, CBS and the other news agencies continue to cover the same stories: the national debt crisis, the recession, the poor job market, and occasionally, a Hollywood scandal. But the other day I came across a “hidden” crisis that isn’t getting quite so much press – asbestos-related illnesses.
Specifically, I found an article by an Army veteran who said that mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer typically affecting the lungs, is diagnosed in close to 3,000 Americans each year. Of those cases, though, statistics show that military veterans account for over one-third of them. The tragedy of this disease is that it is entirely preventable, but it is also deadly – there is no known cure. Treatment is difficult and mesothelioma patients often endure months of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation to extend their lives for just one more year.
Like many Americans I was aware of mesothelioma – you can’t miss the commercials that discuss legal options of those affected by the disease – but I wasn’t educated about the disease. As I dug deeper into the topic, I quickly became disgusted by what I learned.
Basically, because of its flame-resistant qualities, asbestos was used in the United States up until the 1970’s in building materials and insulation. At that time, the United States government realized the health hazards associated with the mineral and began regulating its use. Now, in the United States asbestos is highly regulated and controlled through laws and standards, specifically in the construction industry, where workers can still be exposed to asbestos during renovation projects.
For the most part, American workers are now protected from contracting mesothelioma. However, mesothelioma has an extended latency period, the time from exposure of asbestos until when symptoms become apparent, so older Americans who worked around asbestos are still susceptible to contracting the cancer.
Although the U.S. does not actively mine for asbestos anymore, and asbestos is heavily regulated, the country does send asbestos-containing products – such as retired naval ships – for destruction in India and Asian countries, according to the Ban Asbestos Network. This unwittingly places innocent lives in danger of contracting an incurable disease.
But the most egregious case of placing innocent lives at risk of mesothelioma is in the Canadian government’s mismanagement of asbestos. The country has reopened an inactive mine allowing them to restart operation and ship the toxic mineral to India, Pakistan and Vietnam. These developing countries typically have weaker worker safety laws and continue to contribute to the growing global mesothelioma burden by failing to admit to the mesothelioma-causing properties of the mineral.
Currently, the World Health Organization estimates 43,000 mesothelioma deaths worldwide each year. These countries that are accepting the imports and continue to use vast amounts of asbestos-containing products have historically not tracked mesothelioma cases or asbestos-related illnesses. Based on those countries’ past rates of asbestos consumption, however, occupational health researchers estimate approximately 38,900 mesothelioma deaths occurring in these and other countries go unreported.
It is appalling to know that two countries that are seen as world leaders would knowingly ship a hazardous material to countries ill-equipped to protect their population from the health risks.
The bottom line is asbestos is a carcinogen and is known to cause mesothelioma and lung cancer. Until the substance is banned worldwide innocent lives will be lost. Now that I understand the dangers of asbestos and know what devastation mesothelioma can cause families, I support, and encourage all my readers to support, a worldwide ban on asbestos.
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