Asbestos Related Diseases: What to Tell Your Doctor

Understanding all the potential sources of asbesto exposición

While most Americans know that former asbesto workers now face the highest risk of developing asbesto-related health conditions, asbesto exposure occurs through a variety of routes. The most common types of asbesto exposure include, but are not limited to, the following: 

Ocupacional El asbesto La exposición 

Ocupacional asbesto exposure, or primary asbesto exposure, is asbesto exposure that occurred within the workplace. 

Today, most asbesto-related diagnoses are reported among people who worked with or around asbesto. High-risk groups include military veterans, factory employees, and construction workers. 

“All forms of asbesto are carcinogenic to humans.” ¹

Although reported rates of asbesto-related illnesses have begun declining, researchers believe that an estimated 1.3 million Americans are still exposed to asbesto in their workplaces. 

Varios estudios de salud han demostrado que los cónyuges de los trabajadores del amianto tienen un nivel elevado de riesgo de sufrir enfermedades relacionadas con el amianto, como el cáncer de pulmón.^{2 3 4 5}

Secundaria El asbesto La exposición

Secundaria asbesto exposure, or take-home asbesto exposure, is asbesto exposure that occurs among people who never worked with asbesto. 

Before the dangers of asbesto exposure became a matter of common knowledge, asbesto workers would often return home covered in asbesto dust and asbesto fiber. Since most of these workers did not know that asbesto was associated with serious medical conditions, they did not usually shower or remove their work clothes before returning home. 

Sharing a home or vehicle with someone wearing asbesto-tainted clothing puts you at risk of asbesto-related diseases. ⁶

Secundaria asbesto exposure is still asbesto exposure.

Sin embargo, asbesto fiber—which has a characteristic rough texture and jagged features—could easily “follow” workers home. It spread inside cars, onto furniture, and inside laundry machines. Over the course of days, months, and years, asbesto workers’ entire families could be exposed to significant concentrations of carcinogenic asbesto fiber, placing entire households at-risk. 

Las personas que trabajaron en estas industrias antes de mediados de la década de 1980 tienen un mayor riesgo de desarrollar asbesto-related enfermedades:

Construcción	Fábricas	Fundiciones	Refinerías	Astilleros	Minería / Molienda
Demolición	Aislamiento	Trabajadores del acero	Instalación de tuberías	Construcción naval	Mecánicos
Techumbre	Textiles	Trabajadores del hierro	Calderas	Extinción de incendios	Reparación de frenos
Piso	Cemento	Electricistas	Reparación de juntas	Ferrocarril	Climatización

Desafortunadamente también lo hacen sus familias.

Ambiental El asbesto La exposición

Ambiental asbesto exposure could occur if asbesto is present in water, soil, or air. 

Under most circumstances, naturally-occurring asbesto poses little—if any—risk to people living nearby. However, commercial activity can sometimes scatter aerosolized asbesto into the environment.

Some former “asbesto cities,” like Libby, Montana, have reported higher-than-average rates of mesothelioma and other asbesto-related conditions.

El asbesto has no taste or smell.

Es posible que no sepa que lo está respirando.

While many of these diagnoses can be attributed to occupational asbesto exposure or take-home asbesto exposure, the intensity of asbesto mining and milling operations in communities like Libby led to the formation of massive “asbesto clouds,” which injured people who had no direct connection with the local asbesto industry.

Talking to Your Doctor About El asbesto La exposición 

El asbesto has been linked with a wide and worrying range of medical conditions, including, but not limited to: 

• La Asbestosis 
• Cáncer, including cancer of the lungs, cancer of the stomach, and cancer of the ovaries 
• Chronic pulmonary obstructive enfermedad (COPD) 
• Mesotelioma 
• Pleural enfermedad 

Since most asbesto-related illnesses have long latency periods, many people who are diagnosed with conditions like mesothelioma have long since left the workforce. They may not remember that they worked with asbesto-containing materials, or they might not realize that a minor respiratory complaint could be indicative of a more malignas enfermedad. 

While incidental asbesto exposure is unlikely to lead to long-term health complications, scientists believe that no amount of asbesto exposure is safe. People who lived with former asbesto workers, or who live in asbesto-contaminated houses, could also be at elevated risk for diseases like mesothelioma. 

If you believe that you may be exhibiting the symptoms of an asbesto-related medical condition, seek immediate medical attention. Under most circumstances, physicians are best-equipped to combat malignant diseases before they progress and, potentially, spread to other parts of the body.

Legal options for people with asbesto-related enfermedades

Muchas personas con asbesto injuries can receive money without a lawsuit.

This can help cover medical and ongoing treatment costs, lost wages, and the pain and debilitated quality of life from asbesto-related scarring and enfermedad. 

Courts across the country have long since recognized that the asbesto industry was negligent in its policies and practices. Even after asbesto companies were confronted with evidence that their products were killing American workers, they refused to warn the public, silently paying off scientists, legislators, and victims. 

If you, or a loved one, have been diagnosed with an asbesto-related disease, you could be entitled to significant compensation through a personal injury lawsuit, insurance settlement, or asbesto trust claim.