Health issues
Asbestos is not chemically aggressive, and its serious direct health effects are generally confined to the lungs and surrounding tissue.
Serpentine fibres (Chrysotile) are believed to be less hazardous than amphibole fibres because their wavy shape makes them less likely to lodge in lung tissue, and they are also larger and more soluble. However, all types are dangerous and are covered by the regulations. There are three principal groups of condition caused by asbestos fibres - asbestosis, mesothelioma, and asbestos related lung cancers. Asbestosis is a (non-cancerous) physical scarring of lung tissue, and associated build up of hard tissue, resulting in reduced lung capacity. Mesothelioma is a cancer, and most cases start in the lung’s lining (pleural mesothelioma). Survival is rare, and average life expectancy after diagnosis is only a year or two. Asbestos related lung cancers are more frequent and affect the lung itself.
Mesothelioma, like any cancer, can be contracted from a single instance of exposure to (in this case) a fibre, although statistically those with heavy exposure are more likely to be affected. This generally means those who have been involved in manufacturing processes that use asbestos, and operatives in the building construction and maintenance sectors who have consistently and often unknowingly worked on asbestos products over many years. The latency period (time between exposure and symptoms) is long - somewhere between 15 and 60 years. Hence current sufferers are those who were involved at the time of peak asbestos usage in the 1960’s to the 1980’s. Mesothelioma is almost unknown where there has been no contact with asbestos.
Asbestos related deaths currently stand at around 4,000 pa and are expected to rise to a peak of up to 10,000 within a decade. Numbers will then reduce as those people who were exposed gradually die.
Pleuralmesothelioma.com provides comprehensive information about pleural and other asbestos related cancer ranging from a complete list of symptoms, to treatment options and steps to take after a diagnosis.
