It’s Mesothelioma Awareness Day and Your Chances of Contracting It Just Went Up

September 26 is National Mesothelioma Awareness Day and sadly, most Americans are shocked to learn that the risk of developing this rare form of cancer is as prevalent today as it has ever been. Further, due to recent decisions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), there is a chance your risk for getting mesothelioma might go up!

Tragically, in this country, mesothelioma is mostly known for those law firm commercials that come on at two in the morning in regards to class action lawsuits. Ask most Americans what mesothelioma is, and you’re liable to get a blank stare back. However, one of the first questions a person asks after a mesothelioma diagnosis is, “How did I get it?” And, in every case, there is one simple answer: Asbestos exposure.

In the occupational health and medical industries, asbestos-related diseases were previously thought responsible for around 15,000 fatalities a year. However, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) and Jukka Takala, the President of the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH) say that new data they’ve collected actually puts the number of fatalities of asbestos-related cancers at nearly 40,000 per year, more than double previous estimates.

Takala’s statistics for yearly deaths included 34,270 fatalities from lung cancer, 3,161 from mesothelioma, 787 from ovarian cancer, 443 from larynx cancer, and 613 from chronic asbestosis. The previous mortality estimates came from U.S. government sources, which estimated the 15,000 deaths.

A very brief history of asbestos and its link to mesothelioma

The link between asbestos and cancer has been theorized for a long, long time. Archeological discoveries in Finland show that natives used an asbestos-like material to make pots and cooking utensils more than 4,500 years ago. The Ancient Greeks and Romans were aware of the fire-resistant properties of asbestos, but they also observed a “sickness of the lungs” developed by the slaves who wove asbestos cloth. Even 2,000 years ago, they guessed asbestos might cause deadly respiratory problems and tumors.

However, the link between the two wasn’t scientifically confirmed until more modern times. Beginning with the Industrial Revolution (around 1760 to around 1840) and continuing through today, hundreds of millions of people came into into contact with asbestos, both in the workplace—in factories, mines and so on—as well as in homes, schools, and public buildings. As exposure to asbestos grew, so did the incidence of sickness caused by it.

During the shipbuilding peaks of the late 1800s and early 1900s, employees in shipyards had a dramatically higher incidence of cancer of the sort seen by massive asbestos exposure. It became so severe that in 1918, Prudential Insurance Co. refused to sell insurance policies to people who worked with asbestos.

In 1922, the U.S. Navy listed asbestos work as “hazardous” and recommended the use of respirators for anyone working around it. In 1924, doctors established asbestos as the “definitive cause” of death by lung scarring. And yet, as a sign of the times, businesses did not want to give up their “miracle material” that was cheap, easy to use, infinitely malleable into different forms and had a tensile strength 10 times stronger than steel. So what if it killed a few workers?

Medicine and science finally start naming the problems 

It wasn’t until the 1960s when two events happened that unquestionably linked asbestos exposure to mesothelioma. The first happened in 1960 when South Africa’s J. Christopher Wagner published his famous paper linking pleural mesothelioma to asbestos exposure. Four years later, Dr. Irving J. Selikoff also documented the link between asbestos and cancer of the mesothelium, a dual layer of thin tissue that surrounds certain areas of the body, including the lungs, the abdomen, and the heart cavity.

Wagner and Dr. Selikoff’s efforts were the keys to helping us understand the hazards industrial workers faced as a part of their everyday jobs. It also led the way to labor and environmental reforms, including the creation of both the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and the EPA.

“Well, that must be why the government banned the use of asbestos, right?”

Whoa … hold on a minute! The biggest misconception about asbestos is that the U.S. government banned it back in the 1970s. That is not the case. While the EPA did attempt to ban it in the mid-1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately overturned it.

Legally, the U.S. government recognizes six types of asbestos that fall into two general categories as outlined in the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) of 1986. However, in the decades since AHERA passed, every further attempt to regulate asbestos in the United States has failed due to pressure from business interests.

Though the use of asbestos is heavily restricted, the United States remains one of the only developed nations in the world that has not banned asbestos. Sixty countries currently ban it, while Canada recently announced their own ban to take effect soon. Before their ban in 2017, the U.S. got 95 percent of its asbestos imports from Brazil and now the only country that can meet U.S. needs is Russia.

What the EPA is doing today  

Between 1986 and today, up to 1 percent of asbestos was allowed for use in materials. However, the EPA enacted a rule on June 1, 2018 that essentially reevaluates the use of asbestos in all materials and potentially makes it more popular to use in particular industries. This new rule, the Significant New Use Rule (SNUR), allows the government to evaluate asbestos use on a case-by-case basis.  

Well … that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?

Not so fast, according to Fast Company:

"On the nose, that may sound like [the current] EPA is diligently regulating asbestos—but as [has been] reported, the agency has significantly narrowed the way it evaluates the risk of potentially harmful chemical substances, all but making these two safety measures moot, and signaling a win for the powerful chemical lobby.

A lengthy report of EPA’s new ‘framework’ for evaluating risk, placed into effect this month, detailed how it would no longer consider the effect or presence of substances in the air, ground, or water in its risk assessments—effectively turning a blind eye to improper disposal, contamination, emissions, and other long-term environmental and health risks associated with chemical products, including those derived from asbestos.”

In a nutshell, the EPA has made it easier for companies to introduce new uses of asbestos-containing products in America—many of which could end up in common products in your home, as well as the materials used to build it.

As stated before, Russia is now the principle source for American asbestos imports and the world’s largest open pit asbestos mine is next to the appropriately named city of Asbest in the Ural Mountains. At seven miles long, 1.5 miles wide and more than 1,000 feet deep, the mine is nearly half the size of Manhattan, New York and gouges out half a million metric tons of asbestos every year. The mine employs 400,000 people and generates over $800 million in revenue every year. It also has a reputation for exceptionally high cancer rates and when the wind blows, the nearby cities are covered with asbestos fibers like it was snowfall.

You don’t have to work directly with asbestos to be affected by it

While products derived from asbestos may not hold as significant a direct threat to consumers as those who mine it, the environmental advocacy group Healthy Building Network says the health risks are significant for workers who handle it in industrial facilities that import it.

Surrounding neighborhoods where asbestos fibers may be released into the air, as well as those in proximity to the landfills where they may ultimately end up are also affected. People in the building community, who are exposed to asbestos while renovating and constructing our homes, schools, and offices also remain at risk. If workers are lax in safety precautions and inadvertently bring fibers home on their bodies or clothing, their families can be exposed.

New Orleans and Houston, two port cities that handle the majority of asbestos imports, have 1.3 and 2.3 million residents who could be exposed to the raw asbestos coming in on ships. More sobering is that in 2017, New Orleans had nearly 19 million tourists visit the city and Houston welcomed 22 million that same year. The fibrous nature of asbestos means that if exposed to windy conditions, the fibers can become airborne. Yes, even down on Bourbon Street. That means nearly 45 million people could be exposed to asbestos in those two cities alone.

In regards to asbestos exposure and mesothelioma, hope for the best, but prepare for the worst

As the EPA has stated before, there is NO safe level of asbestos exposure. Even a small amount inhaled could lead to mesothelioma—a disease with an extremely poor prognosis. While only a small number of individuals are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year (about 3,000 annually in the U.S.), that number has been growing and is expected to increase through at least 2020.

Unfortunately, because mesothelioma has such a long latency period, you may not even know that you are sick until decades after your initial exposure. Given how deadly of a disease mesothelioma is, the best policy is to be extremely careful if you discover asbestos in your house, in a product you own, or even in another building where you are visiting. Wear protective gear, and call in a professional if you are doing repairs, remodeling, or any kind of demolition.

As far as the EPA is concerned, if you are disturbed by their new rules, contact your state congressional representatives and let them know your feelings, either pro or con. When it comes to asbestos and mesothelioma, there are no happy endings.

For more information, go to the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance web site, where you'll find lots of information and resources to help you or a loved one who might be suffering from mesothelioma.