Asbestos Exposure Develops Into Cancer Very Slowly

2007-03-08 10:33:40

( Legal )



Asbestos has been recognized as a potent carcinogen, but researchers still haven't established a safe level of asbestos exposure. In order to control asbestos exposure, many countries in the world have banned asbestos.

The U.S. environmental protection agency finalized its regulations to ban asbestos many years ago, but a circuit court overturned these regulations and the government did not appeal. As a result, only new uses of asbestos are banned while existing uses of the material continue to be allowed.

You'll have difficulty getting properly diagnosed for asbestos diseases in the early stages. The absence of observable signs of disease, even by X-ray, does not guarantee the absence of disease. It is said that even the loss of more than one-fourth of lung capacity due to asbestos exposure may not yield outward signs. You'll learn that injury begins the first time you inhale asbestos fibers, but you have to wait until about 30 percent of lung capacity is lost before X-rays detect the damage.

The national institute for occupational safety requires reading and classifying of X-rays by four independent specialists. After discarding the most severe interpretation, the average of the remaining three ratings becomes the individual's classification. The X-ray rating is only one of five components; a complete diagnosis also requires an assessment of respiratory system function, full background documentation of asbestos exposure, breathing difficulty and clubbing of fingers.

Diseases from asbestos exposure take decades to develop. Thus you'll find that many persons already afflicted with early stages of asbestosis would be classified as unimpaired. They wouldn't qualify for compensation in the proposed Senate asbestos law, but they actually are already at risk for lung cancer.

The unimpaired asbestos worker you see today can easily become an asbestos mortality statistic tomorrow. The handling of asbestos claims for diseases from asbestos exposure should take this medical fact into account.


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