Causes Asbestosis

cause of asbestosis
Asbestosis is caused by the inhalation of asbestos. Asbestos is a mineral that was used extensively until the mid 1970's as an insulator and fire retardant .


Although four out of every 10,000 Americans suffer from asbestosis, very few people are really familiar with the disease and its causes. Asbestosis is a medical condition in which exposure to asbestos has resulted in inflammation and tissue scarring in the respiratory tract and lungs, often leading to lung cancer and mesothelioma. Asbestosis is a disease, it is deadly serious, and it's only known cause is asbestos. For general information about asbestosis, please see "Overview of asbestosis."

So far, doctors and public health authorities have difficulty preventing asbestosis and its impact on society. The only sure-fire way to escape from the ravages of asbestosis is to completely avoid exposure to asbestos, but many health conscience individuals have been exposed to asbestos without knowing it. Asbestos fibers are very small, and in many cases, they can only be viewed with a microscope, making it very difficult to avoid the buildings and areas contaminated with asbestos fragile.

Authorities believe that every person has asbestos fibers in their lungs, but only 4 of 10,000 people will develop asbestosis, because the volume of aspirated asbestos is a key factor in the causal relationship between asbestos and asbestosis and other asbestos-related illnesses. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards for safe levels of asbestos exposure is 2 fibers per cubic centimeter, or 2 million fibers per cubic meter of air to breathe. Although this figure is OSHA, scientists have seen the development of diseases such as asbestosis at all levels of exposure studied so far. No one really knows how much asbestos it takes to cause a critical injury.

So how asbestos causes asbestosis? When you breathe fresh, polluted air, moving air through the trachea and became one of the two bronchi, where the air can get into smaller parts, eventually making contact with a small alveolar sacs. These sacs have a membrane that allows the passage of gases is important for the health of your body. In this alveoli membrane are the cells that destroy harmful particles, but the asbestos presents a particular challenge for these cells. Asbestos fibers are not only small - they are very durable, and alveolar cells are not able to destroy them. Thus, asbestos particles can enter the lungs, where they cause a lot of irritation, a condition known to doctors as asbestosis.

Scientists and researchers have found that the development of asbestosis can cause other serious, deadly diseases such as lung cancer and mesothelioma. In many cases, it may take up to 30 years for asbestos-related cancers arise, but one thing is certain - living with asbestosis eventually raise your risk for developing other types of asbestos-related disease. Every year in the United States, nearly 10,000 Americans died from asbestos-related diseases, and an estimated 1400 deaths are a direct result of asbestosis.

Let's do the math. If the approximately 300 million people live in the United States, people with asbestosis 4 out of every 10,000 people with more than 100,000 people living today with asbestosis in the United States! At the level where people who succumb to asbestos-related illnesses, we can expect at least 10 years before the asbestos epidemic is over. Why no one has been done to protect thousands of innocent people from asbestos, a known cause of asbestosis? Answers to questions that can not be simple, but corporate profits are a factor worth betting on. For larger quantities and bigger than the people have developed asbestosis and other asbestos-related diseases, the success of thousands of legal claims shows that companies that have their employees accidentally exposed to asbestos can be held financially responsible for their actions.

Who is particularly at risk for developing asbestosis? Large variety of industries have used asbestos for years, and people who have worked in this industry may have been exposed to high volumes of asbestos, putting them at high risk for developing asbestosis. Some jobs are particularly notorious asbestos construction, milling, boilers and HVAC work, train workers, shipyards and other public works, some of them members of your family can do. Unfortunately, these workers are not just people at risk. Family workers exposed to asbestos are also at higher risk for developing asbestosis, because asbestos fibers may be attached to the equipment and clothing brought to the house. For more information, please see "Risk of Exposure to Asbestos Work", "Products Containing Asbestos" and "Secondary Asbestos Exposure."

Whether you have been exposed to asbestos, proved the cause of asbestosis? Whether you work in an industry where the use of asbestos are highly valued and widespread? If you think any of these factors can put you at risk for developing asbestosis or asbestos-related disease, you should take action as soon as possible. Already, thousands of victims have fought back and make a claim win against the greed and hypocrisy of asbestos injury. You can take the attitude as well. If you have been exposed to asbestos or suffering from asbestosis, contact an asbestos attorney who can fight on your side, protecting your interests and peace of mind. Let the asbestos industry knew that it's okay to destroy the lives of workers who are not guilty.