Asbestos is a concern for all Americans, but especially for Navy Veterans and other members of the Armed Forces who were often exposed to it without their knowledge and without being given any training on how to protect themselves from its dangers. Exposure to its fibers without proper equipment has been conclusively shown to cause cancers and other pulmonary illnesses—sometimes as long as 30 or 60 years after exposure. As a member of the USS Belknap, it is important for you to read this educational article to learn more about asbestos and what options you have if you are diagnosed with an asbestos-related condition.
The word 'asbestos' refers to a group of carcinogenic fibers that were used in a variety of commercial and industrial products, such as such as gaskets, brake linings, pipe coverings, joint compounds, pumps, valves, boilers, equipment, insulation and floor tile. These products, and thousands of others like them, were regular features aboard Navy Ships and Merchant Marine vessels, as well at shipyards, factories and other industrial sites. Because of the small working spaces and poor ventilation associated with living on ship, Navy veterans have been especially hard-hit by asbestos-related diseases, but a broad array of other workers, such as military personnel, shipbuilders and yard birds, pipefitters, machinists, mechanics, factory workers, plumbers, laborers, electricians, powerhouse, and sheet metal workers also show significant numbers of asbestos disease diagnoses.
The companies who manufacture these products knew—or should have known—about the dangers associated with exposure, but they chose to value profits over service and didn't disclose any of the health risks associated with exposure.
Asbestos is a documented cause of a range of diseases and health-related issues, from non-malignant diseases such as asbestosis and pleural plaques to much more serious illnesses such as lung cancer and mesothelioma—which is a cancer of the protective tissue membrane, called mesothelium, that lines many of the body's vital organs.
Mesothelioma is the most dangerous of these diseases, as there is no cure for it and it is most often fatal to everyone diagnosed with it. The most common form of the disease is pleural mesothelioma, where the disease attacks the pleura, which is the tissue surrounding the lungs. Upwards of 75% of mesothelioma cases are pleural mesotheliomas. Most other diagnoses of mesothelioma affect the peritoneum, which is the lining that surrounds the abdomen. This form of the disease is known as peritoneal mesothelioma. There are cases of mesothelioma affecting the lining of the heart and the testes, but these are quite rare and the medical literature only documents a few hundred cases worldwide. To add insult to injury here, asbestos is the only conclusively verified cause of the disease.
Exposure to asbestos can also cause various forms of lung cancer. There is no correlation between smoking tobacco and the development of mesothelioma, but the combination of tobacco use and asbestos exposure have synergistic effects on the carcinogenic processes that lead to lung cancer, which means that smokers exposed to asbestos have a higher probability of developing lung cancer than people who only smoked or who were only exposed to asbestos.
Mesothelioma and lung cancer are complex, dangerous diseases that require specialized treatment and much more study into more effective medicinal options. To learn more about these diseases, especially regarding the latest findings and medical studies, visit http://www.mesotheliomahelp.net/about-mesothelioma.html. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed and needs a specialist, a regularly updated list of physicians can be found at the same website: http://www.mesotheliomahelp.net/dr-search.asp.
Asbestos is the most toxic substance ever used commercially and the legacy of pain and death that resulted from it is a stain on the history of American business practices. For more information call Lori Garber, Esquire at (856) 261-0442.
-Pages added November 15, 2011, by direction of the Association officers.