Workers in occupations involved in that manufacture and use of asbestos products were the subject of numerous?
Written by admin on February 26, 2010 – 2:57 pm -Workers in occupations involved in that manufacture and use of asbestos products were the subject of numerous epidemiological studies prior to 1986 when stringent new laws were imposed regulating this substance. One conclusion of these studies was that these workers had a greatly increased risk of lung cancer. Can you think of another possible reason that might explain such findings and how this could be verified or disproved?
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Posted in asbestos products | 3 Comments »
By bojo8127 on Feb 26, 2010 | Reply
These studies are still an ongoing part of the asbestos research program, and has been proven without any doubt to be the major cause of many lung problems, not just cancer.
As a matter of fact, just last week at another of my lung screening sessions, it was also noted that the exposure to asbestos has other side effects, and has been found to be a contributing factor in Colon cancer.
Anyone that might think they are safe because of not actually working with asbestos, should be aware that just being in contact with a person that does work around this stuff, will have a detrimental affect on them, as the dust can be absorbed by them.
Just standing on any street corner can also be a method in which to be exposed as the dust from the automobile brakes contains much asbestos.
In spite of these findings, asbestos is still widely used in many products today.
By dogsafire on Feb 26, 2010 | Reply
Perhaps the type of people who took jobs in asbestos plants tended to smoke cigarettes more than average.
Perhaps it was not the asbestos, but some other portion of the process, a chemical used in the processing, for example.
Perhaps the places where asbestos is found is associated with other substances that could cause the cancers – uranium deposits, for example.
Perhaps the asbestos particles tend to get contaminated with another substance that is the actual culprit
Perhaps an unknown agent (I mean like chemical or other substance, not like secret agent) is the cause of the cancers, but the capability of scientists and the instruments available at that time were unable to detect the agent.
There are many possibilities.
You could create a hypothesis about each possibility as the cause of the cancers, then devise an experiment to test each hypothesis, following the basic rules of the scientific method.
By Ann-Marie on Feb 26, 2010 | Reply
Smoking has been considered to be an increased factor in asbestos related disease, However – this is somewhat controversial.
Some research indicates a link between mesothelioma and simian virus 40 (SV40), (Look this up) a virus originally found in monkeys. Millions of people may have been exposed to SV40 when receiving polio vaccinations between 1955 and 1963, because the vaccine was developed using monkey cells. Once it was discovered that SV40 was linked to certain cancers, the virus was removed from the polio vaccine.
I think the most relevant answer to your question though is the role of ‘genetics’
For example in the last decade – many studies have shown that polymorphism in the genes involved in xenobiotic and oxidative metabolism or in DNA repair processes may play an important role in the etiology and pathogenesis of these asbestos related diseases.
Look up genetic susceptibility and mesothelioma in google.
Hope this helps,
Ann.