CDC Study Indicates Mesothelioma in Women is Higher Than Believed, and Rising

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus. Men and women are different, and asbestos illnesses, such as mesothelioma and other kinds of cancer, affect women differently. For example, current cancer treatment side-effects are 50 percent worse for women than men. Side-effects might be worse for advanced mesothelioma treatments, but researchers aren’t sure.

Researchers are certain that mesothelioma cases among women are severely underreported. 

In a recent study, one in five female mesothelioma victims listed “homemaker” as their occupation. Many full-time caregivers don’t immediately link their serious illnesses to asbestos exposure. Instead, they often ascribe lung cancer or another kind of cancer to bad luck. If asbestos exposure causes illness, substantial compensation is available for women, as outlined below.

Incidentally, this same study concluded that malignant mesothelioma deaths among women increased significantly between 1990 and 2020, despite the availability of advanced treatment options.

Women have the same right to file asbestos claims as men, even if they were exposed at home.

If an asbestos exposure lawyer connects a woman’s illness to asbestos exposure, substantial compensation is available. This compensation allows women to obtain expensive medical tests, like B-reader radiation tests, that confirm or deny the presence of an asbestos exposure illness. This information allows doctors to promptly begin proper treatments and maximize final results.

Asbestos Exposure Sources

There are three outs in an inning, there have been three Presidents named George, and there are three main types of asbestos exposure sources. Women are at risk for all three types.

Direct Industrial Asbestos Exposure (Occupational)

Most construction, manufacturing, and other industrial companies prize efficiency above everything else. They strive to do jobs as quickly, as well, and as cheaply as possible. Asbestos checked all these boxes.

This plentiful, and therefore cheap, mineral doesn’t conduct sound, electricity, or heat. These qualities prompted many manufacturing companies to use asbestos and ignore the well-known health risks.

During and after World War II, many industrial workers were women. They, like most other industrial workers, rarely wore PPE (personal protective equipment) to reduce the risk of asbestos exposure. Usually, employers didn’t furnish PPE or didn’t tell workers of the risk they faced.

Most industrial workers handled asbesto crisotilo, or white asbestos. This crumbly substance was easy to work with. It also quickly broke down, releasing asbestos dust into the surrounding air.

Workers in the following industries, especially before 1970, faced the greatest asbestos exposure risks:

  • Primary construction (building structures),
  • Secondary construction (finishing workers, like pipelayers and electricians), 
  • Shipbuilders,
  • Asbestos miners,
  • Longshoremen, and
  • Manufacturing workers, mostly auto parts manufacturers.

Around 1970, the environment began changing. The first asbestos exposure victims filed legal actions in the late 1960s, and the Clean Air Act took effect in the early 1970s.

Indirect Industrial Exposure (Occupational)

Miners, manufacturers, and other industrial workers cannot do their jobs without support from back-office workers, like:

  • Payroll clerks,
  • Accountants,
  • Receptionists,
  • Data entry clerks, and
  • Janitorial staff.

Women performed most of these jobs. These workers faced basically the same hazards as direct industrial workers. Asbestos fibers usually float for several hours before they come to rest on a surface, such as a back-office temporary or fill-in worker.

Household Exposure (Second-Hand / Secondary Asbestos Exposure)

Asbestos exposure risks for women don’t end during off-work hours. In fact, if anything, the risk gets worse.

Many women lived near a mine, manufacturing facility, or other asbestos hotspot. Other women lived with or near an industrial worker at an asbestos hotspot.

As mentioned, tiny asbestos fibers are only slightly heavier than air. They not only float to office areas in asbestos hotspots. They also gloat down the street. Furthermore, women who live or socialize with asbestos workers are also at risk for household exposure. This risk also includes children.

Possible Diseases

Once toxic particles, like asbestos fibers, enter the body, they stay there forever. Toxic particles often alter cell DNA and cause other damage.

Altered cells multiply quickly, soak up nutrients, and form tumors. Asbestos fibers usually cause lung tumors and, occasionally, abdominal tumors.

These tumors are very aggressive and spread quickly. Once they spread, doctors have limited treatment options.

Asbestos fibers also cause pleural thickening. If these fibers inflame the lining of the lungs, breathing becomes difficult. Most women are unable to multitask.

Asbestos also causes asbestosis, a different kind of lung disease. Fibers burn breathing passageways and cause scar tissue buildup.

Available Treatments

Before we discuss asbestos illness treatments we should touch on diagnosis issues. Doctors, like professional athletes, usually obtain successful outcomes if they get off to a good start.

Asbestos exposure illness diagnosis usually involves a combination of non-medical and medical evidence. Doctors should proactively test women with at-risk occupational or residential backgrounds.

A combination of surgery and respiratory therapy often improves asbestosis and pleural thickening. However, if the cases are advanced, these treatments usually aren’t an option.

A three-prong approach that includes radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy sometimes has some effect on mesothelioma tumors. Unfortunately, the latency period for these diseases is so long that, even if doctors diagnose them, these treatments aren’t very effective.

VA disability and workers compensation claims are available for direct and indirect industrial exposure victims. Basically, private and public employers have a legal duty to provide safe working environments. So, if a victim was exposed to asbestos fibers on the job, compensation is available.

Household asbestos exposure victims usually file civil claims against asbestos miners, manufacturers, or other providers. These providers are strictly liable for injuries their defective products cause, at least in most cases.

Proving an asbestos claim and receiving compensation

An asbestos exposure lawyer must prove these points by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. That’s a very low standard of evidence. However, asbestos providers and their insurance companies typically fight these claims tooth and nail.

Roughly the same thing is true in workers’ compensation and VA disability claims. Usually, these defendants contest liability (legal responsibility for injury) and damages (amount of compensation due). 

In some states, all three categories of female asbestos exposure victims may file both kinds of claims. Setoffs and other special rules may apply in some cases.

Victim compensation fund claims may be available as well, if a defunct provider contributed to such a fund as a condition of a bankruptcy filing.

The core elements of a VCF claim are usually straight, since there’s no opposing lawyer. Nevertheless, only a highly skilled asbestos exposure lawyer should handle such claims. VCF settlement negotiations are often difficult and protracted.