Many people don’t even know they have been exposed to asbestos. Others know they have had asbestos exposure but were never told of the potential danger to their health and welfare.
During the twentieth century, some 30 million tons of asbestos were used in industrial sites, homes, schools, shipyards and commercial buildings in the United States. Asbestos exposure is still a problem because a great deal of it has been used in the United States and elsewhere.
Many asbestos-containing products remain in buildings, ships, industrial facilities and other environments where the fibers can become airborne. It is even possible that a family member could have been exposed you, because microscopic asbestos fibers on their clothing can come off at home.
Mesothelioma is a cancerous tumor that is caused by asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma cancers are caused by inhaling any of the many forms of asbestos fibers.
There are currently about 3000 new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed per year, mostly in men over the age of 40. It is estimated that there will be about 250,000 cases of mesothelioma before 2020. Mesothelioma has a latency period of 20 to 50 years after the first exposure to asbestos. That means that if you worked around asbestos 50 years ago, you could be developing mesothelioma now.
The most common type of mesothelioma cancers are:
Asbestosis diseases are the benign, non-cancerous, asbestos caused diseases. If you have an asbestosis disease, you have been exposed to asbestos. If you have been exposed to asbestos you have the potential of developing mesothelioma.
The different combinations of abestosis diseases are: