Mesothelioma is an extremely rare form of lung cancer. It is primarily caused by an exposure at some point to asbestos. Usually workers in construction fields who come into contact with asbestos, either during installation (many years ago), removal (more common), or when asbestos already installed in a structure is disturbed during new construction or remodeling. This type of exposure is unfortunately all too common. While many steps have been taken to clearly identify and label areas where asbestos has been installed to prevent accidental exposure, there are still many undiscovered pockets of asbestos in structures all over the US.
Navy workers are one of the groups at an especially high risk of prior asbestos exposure. For this reason, the Mesothelioma Victims Center has made advocacy and support services for these brave men and women a special priority. According to them:
“When it comes to a US Navy Veteran, an individual, or a family dealing with mesothelioma we are trying our best to become a game changer.”
Services offered by the center included personalized reports that direct them to the best doctors and treatment options, coupled with leading lawyers and law firms specializing in mesothelioma cases. In pretty much every case of mesothelioma, there is a guilty party who can be found legally responsible for the victim’s exposure to asbestos. Navy and construction workers aren’t the only groups who are likely to have been exposed to asbestos at some point in their lives and may be eligible for the Victims Center’s services. Workers in shipyards, oil refineries, and power plants also run a high chance of asbestos exposure in their careers.
Plumbers and electricians, too, can deal with sealed walls where asbestos can be found. Minute amounts carried in dust form can be enough to cause this deadly cancer years later. For this reason, even city workers, miners, demolitions experts and many other professionals (even automotive brake techs!) are also at risk. The Victims Center talks about these groups and their risk:
“We are becoming increasingly worried about retired electricians, plumbers and especially city or county water works employees, and mesothelioma. If these individuals were working in the 1950′s, 1960′s, 1970′s, or even 1980′s, they were probably exposed to enormous levels of asbestos on their job sites. City or county water works employees could have been exposed to asbestos pipes up until the early 1990′s. One thing we really want families to understand is mesothelioma cancer does not typically show up until the Navy Veteran or US citizen is in their 60′s, and more often than not their 70′s, or 80′s. Frequently mesothelioma is diagnosed three, four, or even five decades after the exposure to asbestos.”
The dangers of asbestos and the host of “asbestos related diseases” (ARDs) that go with it have been known for about 20 or so years. A 1989 EPA ruling attempted to ban its use in the US in all cases. This ruling was overturned two years later, and only certain uses were banned, as well as the expanded use of asbestos in new forms where asbestos had not previously been utilized. Certainly anyone who has contracted mesothelioma, their friends and families, and the Mesothelioma Victims Center would all agree: any asbestos is too much asbestos – whatever the form.
About Robert Sanchez
Robert Sanchez is a retired health practitioner who prefers to blog during his spare time. After watching a family member battle cancer, he shifted his focus toward learning about and fighting the disease. He prefers to educate those around him, and has found this blog to be a great opportunity for just that.
