Assessing the Damage from Asbestos and Efforts to Regulate and Reduce It

Do asbestos bans save lives? Maybe, but the answer to this question is uncertain, according to a new study.

In the past, mesotheliomas occurred mostly in asbestos miners, pipefitters, insulators, shipyard workers, and their family members who were indirectly exposed to asbestos through their relatives’ contaminated clothes. At present, most mesotheliomas occur outside of these professions, and the questionnaires developed to identify work-related exposure are not equipped to identify reliably other possible forms of exposure.

Furthermore, the development and gentrification of rural areas produce a cohort of workers first and residents later who are exposed to these carcinogenic fibers from the natural environment and may later develop mesothelioma.

Asbestos Exposure Illnesses

The study focused on pleural mesothelioma, a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer that’s the most common, and most deadly, asbestos exposure illness. Survival rates for almost all types of cancer have improved significantly since the 1990s. Pleural mesothelioma is one of the notable exceptions.

Understanding Mesothelioma

Late diagnosis and initial misdiagnosis have conspired to keep the pleural mesothelioma (PlM) survival rate low.

Doctors normally rely on obvious risk factors when they diagnose cancer. These obvious risk factors include a risky lifestyle (e.g. heavy drinking and liver cancer) or a family history of cancer. PlM is almost always an occupational or environmental cancer. Therefore, the medical profiles of most PlM victims raise no red flags.

The nature of PlM compounds the early diagnosis problem. Doctors also rely on advanced tests to spot small tumors before they become big problems. PlM tumors don’t form in the lung. Instead, they form outside the lung, in the thick membranes of the mesothelium layer. Even the most powerful MRIs and other diagnostic tests have trouble penetrating these thick membranes.

A liquid biopsy test detects early stage mesothelioma. But since this test is so expensive, and PlM is so rare, doctors rarely order it.

Finding Reliable Care for Mesothelioma

An asbestos exposure lawyer is an important partner at this stage, as well as the next one. Lawyers connect victims with doctors who focus on asbestos exposure illnesses and do what’s best for their patients, not what’s best for their pocketbooks or reputations.

Initial diagnosis is only the first hurdle. With a miss rate of up to 48 percent, cancer is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed illnesses.

Early physical symptoms, such as weight loss, fatigue, and in lung cancer cases, trouble breathing, are very generic. That’s especially true if the victim is over 70. When these physical symptoms appear, doctors rarely look to cancer, particularly if the victim has no apparent risk factors, as mentioned above.

Furthermore, doctors often mistake PlM for NSCLC (non small-cell lung cancer), a much less aggressive form of cancer. So, they often order conservative treatments. These treatments don’t affect mesothelioma tumors, so the cancer continues to spread.

Asbestosis, another serious lung disease, is also a common asbestos exposure illness. Industrial toxins, like asbestos, cause many other kinds of cancer as well.

Asbestos Ban Risk Reduction

From one perspective, the effect of asbestos bans on public health and safety is a 50-50 proposition. 

Winners in the Effort to Reduce Asbestos Diseases

Roughly fifty countries in the world have completely or partially banned asbestos. Partial bans, like the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 ban, usually target chrysotile (white) asbestos, the most widely-used refined asbestos.

Based on data analysis, bans and partial bans usually reduce the number of secondary occupational and primary ambient victims. We know that’s quite a mouthful, so let’s break it down.

People who don’t handle asbestos-laced products but work in asbestos-laced facilities are the largest category of secondary occupational victims. Stray asbestos fibers often seep through hairline cracks in walls and ceilings. These airborne fibers often float into common areas, such as office suites and parking lots. 

Professional asbestos abatement almost eliminates this exposure risk. Professional abatement usually includes air testing, asbestos removal, and asbestos disposal.

Renovation and demolition workers are also secondary occupational victims. These workers don’t handle asbestos-laced products or work in asbestos-lace facilities. But they encounter asbestos during renovation and demolition projects. If the owner abated the asbestos, such exposure doesn’t occur.

Primary ambient victims usually include friends and relatives of asbestos workers. Sometimes, instead of floating through the air, asbestos fibers settle directly onto a surface, such as clothes or hair. Long term exposure to such fibers could cause one of the aforementioned diseases.

However, the positive effect on primary ambient workers may be more limited. According to a 2021 CDC study, mesothelioma among women is significantly undercounted. Mesothelioma’s extended latency period, which exceeds fifty years in most cases, further reduces the effectiveness of asbestos use bans.

Losers in the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Fight

Even the most comprehensive asbestos ban is usually too little, too late for primary occupational victims and secondary ambient victims.

Before 1980, many primary occupational victims handled asbestos-laced products on the job. High-risk industries included:

  • Construction: The industrial properties of asbestos are stunning. This waterproof mineral doesn’t conduct heat, electricity, or noise. Because of these properties, along with its low cost, construction companies used asbestos in attic, wire, and pipe insulation. They also added it to other building products, such as roof tiles and drywall.
  • Mining: Asbestos mining was legal in the United States until 2002. To conceal the fact that miners handled a hazardous substance, most companies provided little, if any, PPE (personal protective equipment). 
  • Shipbuilding: The Navy instructed shipbuilders to line all its ships with asbestos, particularly in ammunition storage areas, boiler rooms, and other high heat or high risk fire areas. This use continued unabated until 1980. Many pre-1980 vessels remained in service for decades thereafter, where they poisoned a new generation of sailors.

Disaster-related and cross-contamination victims are the most common secondary ambient victims. These victims had no connection to an asbestos hot spot.

9/11 may be the greatest environmental disaster of the century. The original WTC plans called for more than 5,000 tons of asbestos, mostly below the 40th floor. When the Towers fell, these toxic particles drifted across much of the Northeast. Microscopic asbestos fibers usually float for at least seventy-two hours before they land on a surface, such as a person. 

Government Compensation for Asbestos Disease is Often Inadequate

9/11 victims who were near Ground Zero may be eligible for compensation through a government-sponsored victim compensation fund. But it is often not enough to cover the costs of treating mesothelioma and other asbestos-related cancer and disease. Fortunately, ptions for other victims include Social Security Disability claims and civil lawsuits.

Environmental and Secondary Asbestos Exposure is Real and Deadly

Smaller-scale disasters, such as warehouse fires and natural floods, also spread asbestos fibers over wide areas, where they infect unsuspecting people.

Johnsin & Johnson’s asbestos-laced talcum powder is probably the best cross-contamination example. Johnson & Johnson first got wind of the asbestos/talc cross-contamination issue in the late 1950s. Nevertheless, the company ignored the problem and continued to aggressively market talcum powder, mostly to nonwhite women.

Turning the Corner

Increased awareness, along with aggressive monitoring and screening for exposure and disease, maximizes the health and safety effect of asbestos use bans for all four victim categories.

Many people don’t realize that asbestos was deeply embedded in the supply chain. Most people also don’t fully understand the high risk of cross contamination. As for testing and screening, options are available as mentioned above, but doctors rarely turn to these options.

Asbestos exposure lawyers advocate for victims in these areas. Through tools such as this blog, we spread the word about the danger of asbestos exposure, as well as possible solutions to this problem that refuses to go away.