The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) started tracking malignant mesothelioma deaths in the United States in 1999. In 2005 the agency issued a report that showed annual deaths in the nation at around 2,500 each year over that six year period, with the figure climbing slightly each year. Depending on which epidemiology report you read, those deaths will peak in 2012 or 2015 or 2020 and then begin to taper off. Again depending on the source, there are from 2000 to 3000 diagnoses of the disease annually in the United States. The states logging the most deaths from mesothelioma over that period were California, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and somewhat surprisingly, Florida. The large number of retirees from eastern industrial states in all probability drove that figure up in Florida.
Current Asbestos Hazards
Asbestos hazards remain in this nation; the EPA estimates that 1.3 million workers are still at risk for asbestos exposure daily in the United States. Brake shoes and clutch plates still contain asbestos. Some construction products coming out of Canada have asbestos as a component; Canada is the largest producer of asbestos in North America and Europe. Certainly the wholesale exposure to asbestos that characterized the twentieth century will be a thing of the past. But millions of tons of asbestos materials that are still in place in the United States will continue to grow old and deteriorate, with more and more of them becoming "friable," which means crumbly and easily disturbed. Asbestos in this condition is a high-risk hazard because it will readily release inhalable asbestos fibers into the air.
Other Asbestos Related Diseases
It is also worth noting that mesothelioma is not the only lethal disease caused by asbestos. NIOSH records show a gradual increase in asbestosis deaths reaching the 1,500 plateau in the year 2000. There is no definitive statistic on the number of lung cancer deaths that are partially or wholly attributable to asbestos. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) is reaching epidemic proportions in this and other countries, with 12 million Americans suffering from it and another estimated 12 million who have the symptoms but have not been diagnosed yet. This disease is a vicious combination of emphysema and chronic bronchitis, closely associated with smoking. Some percentage of those people diagnosed with COPD surely has asbestos fibers in the lungs as a contributory factor.
Mesothelioma Mortality in Other Countries
The statistics on asbestos mortality are much worse in the UK and Australia than in the United States, because they clamped down on asbestos mining and manufacturing later than the United States did. The British Isles recorded about 4,000 asbestos related deaths in 2007, with a population of 60 million – twenty percent of the U.S. population. What is clear from the statistics in all Western countries is that the impact of asbestos on health and deaths is a curve that will take decades to come to a close.
Sources:
- Malignant Mesothelioma Mortality, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, http://www2.cdc.gov/drds/WorldReportData/FigureTableDetails.asp?FigureTableID=889&GroupRefNumber=F07-01
- Asbestos Toxicity – Who is at Risk? Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/asbestos/risk2.html
- NESHAP Regulated Asbestos Materials Guidance, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/region4/air/asbestos/asbmatl.htm
- Asbestosis Mortality, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, http://www2.cdc.gov/drds/WorldReportData/FigureTableDetails.asp?FigureTableID=488&GroupRefNumber=F01-01
- What is COPD?, National Heart Lung & Blood Institute, http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/Copd/Copd_WhatIs.html
- Asbestos Related Disease Statistics, Office of the Health & Safety Executive, http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/asbfaq.htm#mesothelioma
