Asbestos Cancer News

Asbestos Exposure Linked to Colorectal Cancer

November 16, 2005

A new study to be published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests that men who were exposed to asbestos during work have a much higher rate of developing Colorectal Cancer than men who were not exposed. Asbestos is a naturally occurring element found typically in fibers.

Asbestos was long used in a number of industrial settings and is found in such diverse places as textiles, cement, ropes, floor, roofing equipment, piping, wallboards, fireproofing, clothes, insulation, and many more. Since WWII it is estimated that about 8 million people have had asbestos exposure in the workplace.

Asbestos fibers are easily broken down and inhaled in very tiny particles. The particles can become lodged in the lungs and increases people's chances for developing a rare form of lung cancer known as mesothelioma. The new link between asbestos exposure and colorectal cancer is unsettling to many because the damages from asbestos are just beginning to appear. Mesothelioma takes some 30 to 50 years to develop and is very hard to detect until it is usually at a late stage.

The study included men who were considered to be occupationally exposed to asbestos and had worked for five years or more using materials such insulation, sheet metal, plumbing, plasterboard, ship materials, and boiler making equipment. The study also compared smokers with asbestos exposure to smokers without the exposure.

The results discovered that there was a much higher colorectal cancer rate among men who had asbestos exposure, regardless of their smoking habits. Smokers with asbestos exposure were 36% more likely than smokers without exposure to get the cancer. Men who had asbestos exposure and asbestos-related lung disease were 54% more likely to get colorectal cancer than men without any occupational exposure.

For more information on asbestos related illnesses, please contact us to confer with an attorney.

More Asbestos Law News....