Cause and Effect of Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a complex cancer distinguished by its cause and aggressiveness. The disease is caused by exposure to asbestos and is often misdiagnosed because of the latency period between exposure to the carcinogen and the development of the cancer. Asbestos has long been considered a miracle material and has had many uses dating back to ancient Greece where it was first used as a building material and as a component of fabric. Now asbestos has been identified as a known human carcinogen and despite known risks associated with it asbestos is still being used today. Even today its uses may be limited but still many are exposed to this dangerous cancerous substance daily at their jobs. The fact is that this material has the potential to cause cancer through direct and indirect exposure, and I feel that a safer substitute should have been discovered already. Mesothelioma, the cancer that is caused by asbestos is so fatal that even survivors of it rarely live longer than 3 years after surviving the initial treatment. From my analysis of the risks associated with occupational asbestos exposure and the impact of the cancer it has been associated with I strongly believe that we should be more concerned with using the dangerous material.
First I want to address the nature of the disease and its effect on the human body. This form of cancer is directly associated with exposure to asbestos. The most common place to be exposed to asbestos is industrial construction sites. Many commercial construction adhesives and fireproofing materials contain asbestos and the act of cutting or grinding them can release dangerous crystalline particles of asbestos into the air. Once inhaled the particles lodge themselves in the lining of the lungs which cause a harmful inflammation of the pleura. Over time scar tissue is formed on the mesothelium which is a thin membrane that encompasses the body’s organs and cavities. This scar tissue is where the tumor that is mesothelioma is formed. Making a correct diagnosis of mesothelioma is difficult for doctors because the disease is often followed with symptoms that mimic other more common ailments. Tumors of the mesothelium were first recognized in the late 18th century, but it wasn’t until the middle of the 20th century that this cancer was studied with more detail. It was at this time that suspicions of asbestos’s casual relationship with this deadly cancer were formed. In most cases several years will pass before mesothelioma develops in people exposed to asbestos. Currently there is no cure for this deadly and preventable illness but it is a manageable malignancy. There are many ways to control the severity of the cancer including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy as well as cancer fighting drugs. Despite all the methods of treatment available the disease is still inevitably fatal due to the fact that it’s usually diagnosed in the later stages of development after the cancer has had enough time to spread.
Another scary fact about this disease is the amount of patients that have been infected through indirect exposure to the carcinogen. For example a worker in the insulation industry that has been exposed to friable asbestos which can settle on his clothes and body and then be brought home from work with him to potentially expose his family to the dangerous substance inadvertently. This secondary form of exposure is less common but still contributes to a thousand new reports of mesothelioma a year without ever having direct contact with the asbestos themselves. Most of the cases reported are mostly male patients but women and children also have been diagnosed with the illness themselves and this secondary form of exposure has been identified as the cause for the disease in those patients. Male patients make up over 60 percent of the reported cases of mesothelioma and the main source of exposure being occupational exposure in industrial manufacturing and commercial construction.
Asbestos is still being used today in many different products and in many different manufacturing and construction trades. Some of the products containing this harmful substance are adhesives, cement, welding rods, car brakes, vinyl wallpaper, mortar, plastics, acoustic plaster, drywall, roofing shingles, ceiling and floor tiles, as well as home products like crock pots, fertilizer, popcorn makers and ironing boards. With this much use of this dangerous product occurring today and the latency of the disease to manifest itself it’s kind of hard to closely identify the actual source of the exposure.
The long history that asbestos has had in our society dates way back to ancient roman times were the Romans actually used it as a building material. Asbestos actually comes from a Greek word meaning extinguishable. It was also used by Egyptians as cloths to wrap their dead for burial believing it would last for centuries. However it was used by the early civilizations it was still surmised that asbestos was the cause of pulmonary and respiratory illness that were associated with the trades that mined and processed the raw asbestos. So even that far back there had been suspicions that this miracle material had a dire side effect associated with its use but use of the substance still continued in spite of the many different warning signs noticed over the years. As the centuries went on, it found uses in factories, oil refineries, skyscraper development, and shipyards where it continued to infect workers with this deadly cancer.
My thoughts are that mesothelioma is a totally preventable disease and that nobody else should have to suffer from this terrible affliction any more. We have had enough time and research to tell us that asbestos despite its useful applications is too dangerous for us to use in any setting. Many people have suffered and died from exposure to it because industries have kept information secret from the public about the dangers of occupational exposure to a substance that they knew was dangerous. Now that we have research and proof that shows the risks and diseases that come from exposure to this material I feel that it is negligent to continue to use such a hazardous substance for some many different applications that have such a direct impact on our everyday life. We currently have the technology and the intelligence now to develop products that are asbestos free and do the same things comparatively without any of the harmful side effects of asbestos.
The easiest solution to propose is to stop using asbestos altogether across all industries. Right now there are many different products that emulate the characteristics of asbestos but don’t have the potential to cause cancer. These products include cellulose fiber for insulation, thermo set plastic made with wood floor for fillers, and polyurethane foams for adhesives and insulation. All of these alternative solutions are marketed as a green option being as they present no health hazards associated with exposure to them. As well as being environmentally friendly most of these alternative materials are sold as a cheaper more cost effective product in comparison to more dangerous and toxic to produce asbestos products.
In some industries however it’s not possible to find a safe alternative to asbestos that will work at the high level of performance that asbestos was able to meet the need for. In those cases it is still possible to manage the amount of exposure during occupational use. Simply educating the workers of that industry to the safe care and use of asbestos containing products can limit and almost completely eliminate the hazards associated with the substance. For many years asbestos was handled haphazardly and many that were exposed were totally unaware of the dangers or even how to recognize it. Great care in the future should be made to train workers that have to use asbestos in the proper procedures for handling and using it. Other education should be made to the public as well informing them on the uses and potential hazards that are associated with asbestos and how to deal with it in case they happen to become exposed from daily use of products that contain asbestos.
I believe that the safest way to reduce the amount of mesothelioma cases that are reportedly yearly in this country is to limit or ban the use of asbestos in as many fields of industry as possible. If it’s not possible to do so however I then propose in an action plan that educates the workers that work under the risk of exposure to the safe handling of asbestos to prevent the risk of cancer. The only way to eliminate this form of cancer is to be diligent about preventing exposure to this dangerous carcinogen.