Asbestos Cancer Fatalities Rising, May Peak in 2010

According to United States federal health officials at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), deaths from malignant mesothelioma, a cancer primarily associated with asbestos exposure, have increased in the US.

The CDC analyzed death records for the United States, and found that 18,068 deaths resulted from malignant mesothelioma between 1999 and 2005. The analysis showed that during that period, the annual death toll from mesothelioma rose.

According the CDC, the majority of mesothelioma deaths were among Caucasian men. The state of Maine had the highest number of deaths.

Although a number of regulatory actions have been implemented to reduce the use of asbestos exposure, asbestos-related deaths keep occurring. This is due to a “latent period”, where the asbestos lies dormant in the body for decades. The time between initial exposure to asbestos and the onset of asbestos-related disease can be as long as 40 years.

The CDC expects the number of mesothelioma deaths to peak by the year 2010.

“Although asbestos has been eliminated in the manufacture of many products, it is still being imported and used in the US in various construction and transportation products,” the report notes. “Ensuring a future decrease in mesothelioma mortality requires meticulous control of exposures to asbestos and other materials that might cause mesothelioma.”

Although mesothelioma is typically associated with men who have worked in certain occupations, such as mining and construction, the number of women developing the disease has increased in recent years. In the UK, for example, a number of middle-aged women who washed asbestos-covered work clothes belonging to their father or other family member are now dying from mesothelioma as a result of their secondhand exposure. The problem of secondhand asbestos exposure in the United States is equally as serious, as more women – including females in their late twenties and thirties – are suffering from related diseases.