What Are Asbestos Related Disease?

Though minerals in many forms are helpful in many ways, some are deleterious to our health.  Asbestos, for example, has proven to be one such mineral which has caused one asbestos related disease after another. 

For workers, neighbors, or people in the vicinity, coming into contact with airborne asbestos fibers can bring the risk of contracting an asbestos-related disease like Mesothelioma.  As asbestos gets crushed, particles of the smallest dimensions—those too small to be detected by the human eye--get released into the air.  These particles are inhaled or ingested by the worker, by people within close proximity, and even by those at home…when the worker comes home with asbestos particles on his or her clothing.

The asbestos related disease begins here, as the invasion of asbestos particles damages internal parts and organs: two layers of a thin membrane of cells (called mesothelial cells) cover and surround the lungs, the heart, the stomach, and other vital organs.  When the person inhales or ingests the asbestos particles, the mesothelium (the cells) develop, divide, and multiply in unhealthy, abnormal ways, typically become destructive to tissues, cells, and organs—as a cancer…the asbestos related disease called Mesothelioma.

As you may have read about or heard about on specific ads for asbestos related disease, the first kind of person who may contract the disease of Mesothelioma is the one who experiences occupational exposure to asbestos.  In insulation that is not damaged, broken, opened, or that is left in tact, there is no problem, but in the factory, the shipyard, the mines, at renovation sites and elsewhere—wherever asbestos fibers are freed into the air, wherever they are broken, sawed or cut into, etc., such workers are at risk for the asbestos-related disease.

Just as disheartening is the chance of those who come into contact with the person who has been exposed to the asbestos fibers in the air, for they are likely to experience para-occupational exposure and are therefore also at risk, at another level, for asbestos-related diseases like Mesothelioma.

And as odd as it might seem, being so far away from the initial contact site, those who live or work near a place where asbestos has been released are also at risk for contracting an asbestos related disease by way of what is termed neighborhood exposure.

Though a ban in the mid-70s and the subsequent efforts to remove tons of existing asbestos-containing materials (a.k.a. ACM) have made people more aware, safer, and better protected, those originally exposed—millions between 1940 and 1980—have had to deal with such asbestos related diseases as Mesothelioma, lung cancer, and asbestosis.  However, help is available…from environmental protection agencies, legal experts, and qualified medical professionals.

Links and resource to asbestos related disease:
http://www.medicinenet.com/asbestos-related_disorders/article.htm
http://www.umm.edu/thoracic/mesothelioma.html