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Mesothelioma and Asbestos News - July 2005


Study suggests rare cancer is linked to asbestos in soil


Wednesday, July 13, 2005

It has been shown that certain workers have a higher exposure rate to asbestos than the general public. Shipyard workers, miners, and Navy veterans, amongst hundreds of other professions, have paid the price for their direct contact with this deadly substance. However, a new study from the University of California-Davis Department of Public Health Sciences shows that where you live can also play a role.

The study tracked almost three thousand cases of malignant mesothelioma - a cancer caused only by asbestos exposure - over a ten year period in California. The findings were significant - "People who lived closer to an asbestos source had a greater chance of having mesothelioma," the study states, "and the chance decreased steadily as the distance increased''. Although the study did not give an exact statistic for the chance of contracting mesothelioma if living on top of an asbestos source, it did show that the chance decrease by about 6.3% for every 6.2 miles in distance. A control group of patients with pancreatic cancer were used for the study, which showed no change in cancer rates based on location.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer that has been attributed to asbestos exposure that can take 30-40 years to develop.. It can affect the lung lining, abdominal cavity, as well as the tissue surrounding the heart, and is almost always fatal. Although this study shows that geographic location may play a role, over 90% of mesothelioma patients have been directly exposed through their occupations.