Asbestos is a mineral. It is present in the environment naturally, at a very low and safe level. It has heat-retardant and friction-resistant properties, and beginning in the 1930s asbestos began being used in thousands of products and applications across the United States and around the world. The asbestos in these products is at a concentration that is many times higher than the natural environmental level of asbestos.
The Asbestos Epidemic
Such high levels of asbestos can give humans cancer and other serious diseases. It was a widespread, terrible mistake of great duration to use so much asbestos in so many places, in so many ways that adversely affected so many people.
An “asbestos cancer epidemic” has occurred in America, with an estimated 1.3 million workers directly affected by extreme asbestos exposure on their jobs, and millions more people subjected to toxic levels of asbestos in their homes, workplaces, schools, and other buildings. Each year, roughly 10,000 individuals die from asbestos cancer diseases in the U.S.
Restrictions on Asbestos: Not Until the 1970s
The Clean Air Act of 1970 finally put some brakes on the uses of asbestos. Nowadays, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) regulate asbestos, but these restrictions come too late for the people who contracted an asbestos cancer disease years (or decades) ago.
There is a long latency period for asbestos cancer diseases, and the epidemic of asbestos cancer diagnoses in recent years is based in large part on asbestos exposure that took place in the 1940s through 1960s. Today, many innocent victims of asbestos cancer are being diagnosed with:
* Lung cancer (usually small-cell or non-small-cell)
* Cancer of other organs
* Mesothelioma cancer (a rare cancer that attacks the tissue lining of the chest/abdomen)
* Asbestosis
* Other respiratory diseases
Asbestos Lawsuits
Thousands of victims of asbestos cancer have initiated asbestos lawsuits in an effort to hold the makers and distributors of asbestos products responsible for the damages they have wreaked. It has been proven that several large asbestos corporations knew of the dangers of their products but chose to put their profits before the safety of human beings — workers and others who were poisoned by asbestos.
Asbestos Cancer Assistance
If you or your family member has been diagnosed with an asbestos cancer disease, it's in your best interest to learn all that you can about your options and rights. Please feel free to contact mesothelioma treatment centers for more information or to find out about the resources available to you.
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