The Link Between Asbestos Exposure and Smoking

by Robert Linebaugh

It is common knowledge that smoking is hazardous to one's health. Additionally, many people know that exposure to asbestos is very dangerous and can lead to the development of the disease mesothelioma. What many people do not know, however, is that when smoking and asbestos exposure are combined, both of the harmful elements work together to create a much higher risk for the development of mesothelioma, or other types of cancers.

A Quick Guide to Asbestos and Health Issues

Gerard Simington

Unless you have been completely out of touch, you have probably heard all the hubbub about the dangers of asbestos. So, what is the big deal?

A Quick Guide to Asbestos and Health Issues

Asbestos is a fibrous material that is highly resistant to burning. It has a long history. While it was first used on a large scale commercial basis at the turn of the twentieth century, it has actually been around much longer. In fact, the ancient Egyptians were known for using it burial clothes.

Common modern applications used to include building materials, products and automobile brake pads, which all required a fire resistant element. Asbestos is still used today, but on a fairly small scope. The reason has everything to do with health. Asbestos in and of itself is not harmful to people. What is harmful, however, is asbestos dust.

Asbestos dust is a vicious thing. Due to the chemical makeup of the material, the dust is like a cloud of fine glass particles. While they will not damage your skin, they do great damage to the lungs. Making matters worse, asbestos dust is so fine that it is easily raised from asbestos material like ceiling tiles and walls. Once in the air, it is all but invisible. Prolonged exposure, such as when working on or in a building with asbestos materials, can result in massive amounts of the toxic dust entering the lungs.

Once asbestos dust is in your lungs, you cannot expel it by coughing. That doesn’t mean the body does not try. Asbestosis is scarring of the lungs from acid created by the body in an effort to get the asbestos dust out. If this process is allowed to occur for 10 to 20 years, the lungs may stop functioning because of excess scarring. If that sounds bad, it only gets worse. Asbestos dust can lead to terminal cancer in the form of mesothelioma. [What is Mesothelioma?]

Asbestos is an excellent fire resistant material that saves us from burning while killing us in a much slower manner. Since 1989, it has been banned in the United States in all but a few commercial areas.

Gerard Simington is with FindAnAttorneyForMe.com - offering asbestos and mesothelioma legal information.

Cigarettes have many harmful chemicals that break down the lungs and can be leading causes in cancer. Asbestos exposure also exposes the lung to harmful chemicals that weaken your body's defenses against cancers and other lung problems. Studies have found that cigarette smokers have a four to eleven times greater chance of getting lung cancer than non-smokers. If a person is a heavy smoker, than the number goes up to twenty-seven times as likely. Adding a heavy smoker to asbestos exposure sends the probabilities for lung cancer skyrocketing. In fact, heavy smokers with a history of asbestos exposure have a 50 to 90 times greater chance of having lung cancer. Needless to say, heavy smoking and large amounts of asbestos exposure will almost certainly lead to lung cancer.

Smoking causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). People who smoke and have been exposed to asbestos have higher occurrences of COPD than people who have not been exposed to asbestos. Some of the terrible effects of COPD are the inflammation and eventual destruction of small airways in the lung tissue. Once these tissues have been destroys, some people can be completely debilitated.

Studies have shown that people who quit smoking, but still had asbestos exposure are less likely to have lung cancer than those people who continue to smoke. Some say that COPD can be reversed the longer time is spent without smoking. Additionally, people who are able to quit smoking often feel healthier over time and significantly increase their life expectancy. Even though any amount of smoking or asbestos exposure can lead to lung cancer, the sooner one quits, the better off he or she will be.

Asbestos exposure is very harmful for anyone. However if you know that you have been exposed to asbestos, and continue to smoke, you are playing with fate. The sooner someone stops smoking, the sooner his or her lungs can begin to heal. Mesothelioma and other cancers are very serious diseases that often end in death. In order to stay alive for loved ones, smokers should quit immediately.

About the author:

Robert Linebaugh writes about mesothelioma topics.

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