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Mesothelioma awareness on the rise

oecil_kritingz — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 15:56:00 +0000

Public awareness of mesothelioma, a deadly disease caused by exposure to asbestos, appears to be rising throughout the developed world. Outcry and public protest in response to the proposed expansion of the Jeffrey Asbestos Mine in Quebec, the potential establishment of a National Mesothelioma Awareness Day in the United States, and even media recognition in popular television evidence the rise in public sympathy with the cause.

The disease made its way into popular media when an ABC show, BostonMed, centered an episode in July around a mesothelioma patient’s battle with the cancer. The episode featured Charles Chew and Dr. David Sugarbaker, a real-life mesothelioma patient and a cutting edge mesothelioma surgeon.

Mesothelioma is a terminal cancer of the soft tissue lining which protects many of the body’s vital organs. It is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers, a phenomena which often occurs in industrial settings such as manufacturing plants for sealants, brake pads, asbestos boards and insulation. The disease can take as long as several decades to develop from the initial time of exposure, making it exceedingly difficult to diagnose and virtually impossible to detect early.

Dr. Sugarbaker, a thoracic surgery specialist who is well known for his radical mesothelioma treatment approach, has had much success mitigating the effects of the disease and drastically reducing the rate of the cancer’s recurrence. Historically, patients have faced a grim prognosis which predicts just six to eighteen months of survival. Dr. Sugarbaker’s radical treatments implement tumor removal surgery, intra-pleural chemotherapy and regular chemotherapy efforts to destroy cancerous tumors and slow or eliminate the regrowth of malignant tissues. His patients, amazingly, have survived mesothelioma for as much as five years.

Dr. Sugarbaker is the the founder of the International Mesothelioma Program (IMP) at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA, and is well known for his efforts to combat the cancer. While many doctors recommend only palliative treatments to mesothelioma patients, Sugarbaker adopts a far more positive outlook.

With increasing understanding of mesothelioma in both the public and medical sectors, patients may be able to look forward to a somewhat less fatalistic approach to treating the disease in the near future.

“When hope is in the equation,” says Sugarbaker, “anything is possible.”

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National Mesothelioma Awareness Day slated for September 26th, 2010

oecil_kritingz — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:50:13 +0000

A national Mesothelioma Awareness Day could mark the beginning of a more rigorous campaign aimed at curbing the disease’s impact in America and across the world. The motion, proposed and championed with the support of the Mesothelioma Research Foundation, was introduced as H. 771 by Representative Betty McCollum and Senator Patty Murray. The bill is currently foundered in the bureaucratic process, but while it awaits review by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, hopes remain high.

The proposed first annual National Mesothelioma Awareness Day, slated for the 26th of September, 2010, will serve as the core of activist efforts regardless of whether the bill is actually passed in time. The Mesothelioma Research Foundation, more commonly known as the Meso Foundation, will be in New York on the 26th for the taping of the Today Show, and will be displaying ads in the massive, coveted display windows of the 10 Rockefeller building during that same week.

The Meso Foundation doesn’t have all of its eggs in one basket, though. The foundation continues to sponsor conferences, marathons, races and publicity events that benefit victims and their families, raise money for research, and increase public awareness of the disease.

The Meso Foundation aren’t the only ones concerned about mesothelioma. Florida recently added the 26th of September to its list of state wide recognized days, dubbing the day Mesothelioma Awareness Day in a move that foreshadows the establishment of a nationally recognized awareness day.

Every year, mesothelioma claims the lives of some 2,500 in America or 90,000 worldwide. That may seem like a large number, but the reality is that it’s shockingly low in comparison to those killed by heart disease, traffic accidents, and plenty of other worldwide threats to health and well-being.

The reason mesothelioma is getting so much attention, is because it’s one-hundred percent preventable without restricting anyone’s personal freedoms. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos, a toxic substance historically used as an insulator, sealant, and strengthener in certain building materials.

More than fifty countries around the world, including the majority of the European Union, banned asbestos as soon as it was conclusively linked to life-threatening disease in the 1980?s. America, Britain, Canada and Russia, however, are not among those.

With the establishment of a National Mesothelioma Awareness Day and the ongoing efforts of those driven to eradicate the needless suffering of those afflicted with the disease, the world may be preparing to see a decline of mesothelioma and other asbestos related illnesses.

View full post on Mesothelioma.net Blog

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Mesothelioma survivor dedicated to raising awareness about deadly illness

oecil_kritingz — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 07:57:55 +0000

Florida resident Larry Davis is well aware of the challenges and hardships that face those affected by mesothelioma. Not only has he seen his father succumb to the illness after being exposed to asbestos while working at a box manufacturing company, but Davis himself is a survivor of peritoneal mesothelioma.
Because of his experiences with mesothelioma, [...]

View full post on Asbestos.net News & Information

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Mesothelioma.com News | Following mesothelioma asbestos removal, former Roosevelt Elementary School will be demolished

oecil_kritingz — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 04:43:50 +0000

The Middletown School District has taken its first step toward the demolition of Roosevelt Elementary School, reports the Middletown Journal. The elementary school, located in Middletown, Ohio, has stood vacant for two years.

It will cost the district $402,800 to rid the building of asbestos, and then demolish it. Middletown’s Phase 1 Building Project allotted for $750,000.

“When we campaigned for the bond issue in 2003, one of the promises the board made to the community was that they would not leave any empty buildings standing,” said Debbie Alberico, Middletown City School community relations specialist. “The building is the building…What makes a building is the people in it,” she added.

The Board of Education approved a $64,800 bid from Central Insulation Systems to remove asbestos from the inside of the building. The asbestos abatement process will take six weeks.

Although asbestos abatement is a costly and intricate process, the material must be removed from the building. For when asbestos is disturbed, during renovation or demolition, the particles can easily become airborne, and pose a serious health risk to those exposed. Extended exposure to the material has been known to cause several diseases, including mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a rare and aggressive asbestos cancer, which affects nearly 3,000 Americans each year. The internal linings of the lung, heart and abdominal cavities are most often affected by the disease.

The demolition is slated to begin in the end of September, and conclude by December 3.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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Mesothelioma.com News | Harvard University professor’s mesothelioma cancer battle chronicled in bestselling book

oecil_kritingz — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 04:43:59 +0000

In the bestselling book Anticancer: A New Way of Life, written by physician and cancer survivor Dr. David Servan-Schreiber, the author shares the story of professor and mesothelioma victim Stephen Jay Gould, who specialized in the study of evolution and developed the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium. In 1982, Gould was diagnosed with a rare form of peritoneal mesothelioma, an asbestos cancer caused by previous asbestos exposure. Upon diagnosis, Gould reportedly asked his physician to recommend “the best technical articles on mesothelioma,” and was told that nothing published was “really worth reading.”

This was because mesothelioma has no known cure; the average survival rate for patients at the time of Gould’s diagnosis was just eight months. Amazingly, Gould survived thirty times longer than his oncologist had initially predicted, passing away in 2002 from a disease other than mesothelioma.

Gould’s legacy to the field of oncology and those suffering from mesothelioma is a message about mesothelioma prognosis. In his essay, The Median Isn’t the Message, Gould notes that “attitude clearly matters in fighting cancer,” and goes on to stress the importance of understanding what the word “median” truly means to a cancer patient who has just been diagnosed:

“When I learned about the eight-month median, my first intellectual reaction was: fine, half the people will live longer; now what are my chances of being in that half. I read for a furious and nervous hour and concluded, with relief: damned good. I possessed every one of the characteristics conferring a probability of longer life: I was young; my disease had been recognized in a relatively early stage; I would receive the nation’s best medical treatment; I had the world to live for; I knew how to read the data properly and not despair.”

While the mesothelioma survival rate back when Gould was diagnosed may have been interpreted as grim, patients these days are exceeding that eight month timeline by years. While the reported median survival rate for mesothelioma patients is about two years, many live much longer due to mesothelioma treatment methods and successful participation in clinical trials.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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Asbestos & Mesothelioma Alert: Connecticut to clean up its Brownfield sites

oecil_kritingz — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 04:44:03 +0000

The state of Connecticut will spend nearly $2.3 million to clean up its Brownfield sites, reports Business Week. The cleanup will include asbestos abatement.

The money will prepare properties in six Connecticut municipalities for commercial and residential use. Redeveloping such properties will provide opportunities for more housing, commercial and recreation uses.

Governor M. Jodi Reil noted that Brownfield sites in Hartford, Madison, Meriden, Naugatuck, Putnam and Waterbury will receive the state funding. The money will fund projects such as the construction of warehouse space in Waterbury, cleanup and demolition in Meriden, and lead and asbestos removal in Madison. Hazardous material will also be surveyed in a Naugtuck train station.

Many Brownfield sites are old, and because of this, require asbestos abatement before they may be demolished, or renovated. Asbestos is a highly hazardous material, which, when disturbed, poses as serious health risk to those exposed.

Exposure to the material has been known to cause several diseases, including malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is the most aggressive asbestos-related disease, which most commonly forms from the internal linings of the lung, heart and abdominal cavities.

Because the disease lacks a cure, mesothelioma clinics suggest patients undergo chemotherapy and radiation as forms of treatment. Such treatment, however, tends to arrive in the later stages of the patient’s disease.

Once the asbestos is removed, workers and community residents will be safe. The funding for the cleanup has been provided by the Municipal Brownfield Pilot Program, established in 2006.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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New Mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment protocol published

oecil_kritingz — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:56:11 +0000

The European Guidelines for Medical Oncology (ESMO) have published a new guide to mesothelioma diagnosis and treatment, an addition that the journal hopes will increase early diagnoses and improve treatment efficacy. The protocol is particularly important due to the terminal disease’s relative infrequency, its general symptoms, and the profound impact that early diagnosis can have on survival times.

Mesothelioma, an aggressive and terminal cancer of a specific tissue which encases the body’s vital organs, is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. The disease can take from twenty to fifty years to develop from initial exposure to asbestos, and presents with symptoms shared by a variety of general ailments. The long latency period and vague symptoms make it particularly difficult to diagnose, and its aggressive progression makes it an incredibly dangerous disease with a normally grim prognosis. The publication in the European Guidelines for Medical Oncology provide some standard diagnostic and treatment procedures which hope to help doctors diagnose mesothelioma more quickly and treat it more efficiently.

The guidelines state that one of the first symptoms of the disease is often shortness of breath and varying degrees of chest pain. An X-ray can help to discern whether the chest wall has begun to thicken – another symptom of the disease – and a test performed on the fluid accumulating in the chest cavity along with an audit of the patient’s occupational history can help to narrow the possibilities. If all tests at this point indicate a possibility of mesothelioma, the new guidelines suggest a biopsy to confirm the diagnosis.

In addition to symptomatic diagnosis, the guidelines discuss the possibility of further inferring a positive diagnosis by recognizing two specific protein markers found in the patient’s blood serum. While the role these proteins play is still relatively uncertain their presence has been correlated with a positive mesothelioma diagnosis.

A wide variety of experimental treatments exist for mesothelioma, but the ESMO report continues to support the traditional treatment methods of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. Surgery, claims the new guidelines, should only be performed in early stages of the disease and should be followed by chemotherapy and combination radiotherapy where necessary. A variety of combination, or multi-modal, therapies – that is, collections of specific drugs and administration techniques – exist which have shown particular efficacy in different circumstances.

While mesothelioma is still considered a rare disease, its long latency period suggests that diagnoses will continue to rise considerably. Guidelines such as the new ESMO publication could help doctors to deal with rising instances of the disease.

View full post on Mesothelioma.net Blog

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Mesothelioma Cancer Alert: Apartment fire raises asbestos concerns

oecil_kritingz — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 04:45:00 +0000

An apartment fire which around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, July 25th displaced 38 residents and has prompted asbestos concerns. The fire, located at Colony Hills Apartment Complex in Colorado Springs, Colorado, injured three residents. Two were transported to the hospital for smoke inhalation, and one for a dog bite, reports Colorado Connection.

Battalion Chief Tommy Smith noted, “All 11 units were on the scene, which is about 44 firefighters.” Smith is grateful that residents are safe. Eighteen apartments were affected by the blaze. Eight were damaged, and two were destroyed.

The apartment building, built in 1986, may contain asbestos. Asbestos was once commonly used in construction materials, within drywall, roofing and tile flooring. The material was most commonly exploited for its fire retardant properties.

When the material is disturbed, the particles become airborne. And once airborne, the asbestos is easily inhaled. Extended exposure to the toxic material has been known to cause several diseases, including malignant mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare asbestos cancer, which forms from the mesothelium.

Mesothelioma clinics support the usage of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery as beneficial forms of treatment. Such treatment, however, tends to arrive in the later stages of the patient’s disease.

The Chief has noted that the blaze began on the exterior of the building. The bushes below the windows acted as a kindling, spreading the blaze. The cause of the fire is unknown.

The building must be tested for hazardous asbestos material, in order to determine whether the site is safe.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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Residents and company charged for improper asbestos removal, mesothelioma cancer worries arise

oecil_kritingz — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:43:18 +0000

Three New York residents and one company have been charged for violating the Clean Air Act and making false statements to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, reports examiner.com. The Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency announced the indictment on Tuesday.

The indictment names Peter DeFilippo, 47, David Olsen, 30, Joseph Terranova, 65 and Excel Demo, Inc. as defendants. The defendants are being charged for illegally removing asbestos from a Belleville, Michigan apartment complex in June 2008.

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is focusing on environmental crimes because our natural resources are Michigan’s most valuable assets…Offenders who harm our clean air or clean water will be held accountable,” said United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.

Asbestos is a toxic material, known to cause mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. When disturbed, the material becomes airborne, and is easily inhaled. Because of the violators’ actions, residents of the Michigan apartment complex may have been exposed to the hazardous material.

Mesothelioma is the rarest and aggressive asbestos-related cancer, which most commonly affects the pleura. Although the disease lacks a cure, mesothelioma clinics support the usage of standard medical treatment.

“These arrests show that the government will take action against those who are alleged to have broken the law,” said EPA Special Agent-in-Charge, Randall Ashe.

The defendants were arrested on July 20, 2010. They are scheduled to appear in court on August 5, 2010.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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Asbestos debris found alongside road project site, leading to mesothelioma cancer concerns

oecil_kritingz — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 04:43:30 +0000

p>York County, South Carolina officials discovered asbestos debris aside a county roadway project in November. The hazardous debris was found buried in the right of way of the Fort Mill Southern Bypass, reports the Herald Online.

The project, named “Pennies for Progress,” will pass by the county’s new Banks Trail Middle School. The school is slated to open for the 2011-2012 school year.

In order to remove the toxic material from the project area, county officials approved $570,000 for the cleanup. The county is responsible for the cleanup, because it owns the right of way, and dug up the asbestos.

Asbestos is a highly hazardous material, known to pose a serious health risk to those exposed. In order to keep York community residents safe, the material must be removed. Exposure to asbestos has been known to cause several diseases, including mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is an aggressive disease, which forms from the mesothelium.

Unfortunately, there is no cure for the disease. And because of this, treatment is palliative. Such treatment, however, tends to arrive in the later stages of their disease. For even the best mesothelioma doctors struggle to diagnose patients with mesothelioma in the earliest stages of the disease as mesothelioma has a latency period of up to fifty years. Following diagnosis patients generally undergo chemo, radiation or endure mesothelioma surgery.

The asbestos abatement work will being Monday, July 26. HEPACO Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina, has been awarded with the job. The work will take six weeks to complete.

An additional $267,000 has been approved by the County Council in order to determine if additional asbestos debris is buried alongside the future roadway. If more debris is found, the county will seek reimbursement from the former property owners.

View full post on Mesothelioma.com News

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