Asbestos Related Lung Cancer: Cause, Symptoms And Treatment

by Kirsten Hawkins

Asbestos related lung cancer, as the name itself indicates, is a type of lung cancer that is caused by the exposure to asbestos particles suspended in the air. In addition, smoking is also a cause of lung cancer. Mesothelioma is the most dangerous among all types of asbestos related lung cancers. Other thoracic carcinomas such as adeno carcinoma are also caused by exposure to asbestos.

Understanding the Risk Factors Associated with Asbestos Related Lung Cancer

People have wrong assumptions about the cause of lung cancer. They generally believe that cigarette smoking is the cause of all types of lung cancers. This wide ignorance makes it more important to make them aware about the real cause of asbestos related lung cancer. Smoking definitely is an important factor but it is not the only cause of lung cancer.

Asbestos Cancer Law

Gus Benson

Asbestos cancer law includes those laws that have been established by various governments that regulate exposure to asbestos in the workplace. Asbestos cancer law also allows people who are injured as a result of prolonged asbestos exposure to seek compensation from their employer. This is often done in various class action lawsuits on the part of employees against companies that manufactured asbestos related products.
Asbestos has historically been part of over 5000 different products and has been in use for over hundreds of years. Asbestos finds its use in a wide variety of appliances - vehicle brakes, building materials, ships, roofing materials, plastics, paints, some paper products, and much more. Asbestos exposure has proved very harmful to human health. Even though the ill effects of asbestos exposure have been well known for quite some time, some organizations still choose to use asbestos. Not only that, most structures still have products containing asbestos. Shipyard, automotive, factory, construction, custodial and building industry workers are all exposed to asbestos in greater or lesser extents.
Asbestos laws protect people from the harmful consequences of asbestos exposure. Asbestos exposure at dangerous levels can lead to asbestosis- a build up of scar tissue in the lungs. This results from inhaling asbestos fibers that interrupt normal lung functioning and can finally lead to death or disability. Mesothelioma cancer is a severe and in most cases deadly cancer and the main reason for its occurrence is asbestos exposure. In most cases it takes a large time to diagnose the illness and hence the survival time for mesothelioma victims is extremely short; on average a patient has only one more year to live. Asbestos law allows a victim to recover medical expenses, lost income, and compensation for pain and suffering from his employer. If a victim has died because of asbestos related disease, asbestos law also permits the victim's family to recover damages related to the injury.
Asbestos laws give certain guidelines to determine permissible exposure levels for asbestos in the workplace: 0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter for an eight hour work period and one fiber per cubic centimeter in any given thirty minute time period. The law also enforces on the employers the need to conduct frequent exposure monitoring and create regulated work areas. Under asbestos law, the employers must also provide their employees with protective respiratory and clothing equipment, adequate hygiene facilities, training on how to safely work with asbestos and routine health exams in case they are at a risk of being exposed to asbestos.
About the Author
Gus Benson runs http://www.mesothelioma-asbestosis-cancer.info, a website dedicated to mesothelioma and asbestosis related cancer information. Click to visit his site: http://www.mesothelioma-asbestosis-cancer.info

After conducting many studies, experts concluded that an individual is five times more at the risk of lung cancer if he or she is exposed to airborne asbestos particles. Those people who smoke but never exposed to asbestos particles face the risk of developing lung cancer ten times. Risk factor increases by fifty times when both smoking and exposure to asbestos particles is combined. This is why we have large incidences of asbestos related lung cancer.

One plus One Makes Eleven

Thus, the mathematics of adding risk factors of asbestos related lung cancer is an altogether different proposition. When you add risk posed by asbestos exposure to the risk posed by cigarette smoking, it is like one plus one equal to eleven, rather than two.

Long Latency Period, Short Survival Time

Like other asbestos related diseases, most unfortunate aspect of asbestos related lung cancer is its long latency period. Disease may lie dormant in the human body for decades after the exposure to asbestos particles. After diagnosis patient is left with very little survival period to fight the disease.

Symptoms of Asbestos Related Lung Cancer

Symptoms of asbestos related lung cancer include cough, difficulty in breathing, chest pain and detection of new mass in chest x-ray report. Treatment options differ according to the stage of tumor. Surgical removal helps in increasing survival time when disease is diagnosed at an early stage. Radiation and chemotherapy are some other treatment options to cure asbestos related lung cancer in case of late diagnosis.

Legal Remedy for Asbestos Related Lung Cancer

The treatment of asbestos related lung cancer is very expensive. However, the good news is that the patient suffering from asbestos related lung cancer could file lawsuits to seek compensation for the companies or individuals responsible for causing asbestos exposure.
About the Author

Kirsten Hawkins is a asbestos and mesothelioma specialist from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.asbestosblog.org/ for information on asbestos reform, mesothelioma lawsuit news, and more.

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