Exposure to the asbestos plant as the cause of these mesothelioma cases

Tag : asbestos
Asbestos is a heat-resistant fibrous material that was once widelyused in insulation, fireproofing, tiles and a host of otherbuilding materials. Breathing in airborne asbestos fibers cancontribute to lung cancer, as well as mesothelioma -- a rare cancerof the membrane surrounding internal organs. It most often affectsthe tissue that lines the chest cavity and protects the lungs.
People who have ever had on-the-job exposure to asbestos -- inindustries like construction and insulation manufacturing -- are atgreatest risk of mesothelioma.
The new findings now suggest that people who've ever lived near anasbestos manufacturing plant are also at risk of developing thedisease, several decades later.
In the study, Japanese researchers found higher-than-expected deathrates from mesothelioma among people who'd lived near a now-closedasbestos cement pipe plant between 1957 and 1975.
The risk steadily declined as residents' distance from the plantincreased, with elevated mesothelioma rates seen among peopleliving up to roughly 1.5 miles downwind of the plant.
Residents who died of mesothelioma developed symptoms of thedisease an average of 43 years after their first year living nearthe plant, according to Drs. Norio Kurumatani and Shinji Kumagal.The findings are published in the American Journal of Respiratoryand Critical Care Medicine.
The researchers based their findings on 35 men and 38 women who hadlived near the asbestos pipe plant between 1957 and 1975 and diedof mesothelioma sometime between 1995 and 2006. None had had anyoccupational exposure to asbestos.
The mesothelioma death rate for these residents was four times whatwould be expected. And the greatest risk was seen among men andwomen living within 300 meters of the plant; the death rate amongwomen was 41 times the expected rate, while the rate among men was14 times the expected figure.
The findings strongly support exposure to the asbestos plant as thecause of these mesothelioma cases, according to Kurumatani andKumagal.
In 2006, the researchers note, the Kubota Corporation, which ranthe plant before it closed, established a compensation fund forpeople who developed asbestos-related diseases after having livedwithin kilometer -- or 1.6 miles -- of the site during the time itused asbestos.
Kurumatani is at the Nara Medical University School of Medicine inKashihara, and Kumagal is affiliated with the Osaka PrefectureInstitute of Public Health in Osaka. Copyright 2005 Reuters. Click for Restrictions.