Northwestern Montana can expect an epidemic of mesothelioma in the next 10 to 20 years, according to Dr Alan Whitehouse, a pulmonologist who works intensively in asbestos disease. Writing in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Dr Whitehouse reported that workers and other residents exposed to asbestos at the WR Grace Vermiculite mine in Libby, MT will develop the disease in the next two decades.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium, the thin membrane that lines the chest and abdominal cavity, and covers the organs within each of these cavities. Mesothelioma is a relatively rare cancer, accounting for only 1% of all cancer diagnoses, and almost all cases of mesothelioma are linked to asbestos exposure. It is caused by inhalation of microscopic asbestos fibers.

The inhaled fibers work their way into the chest cavity or the abdominal cavity, and lodge in the mesothelium. The membrane thickens into a hard, inflexible rind, forming bumps and nodules. The enlarging cancerous tissue produces large amounts of fluid that crowds the pleural or abdominal cavity, and the cancer itself compresses nearby organs. The disease progresses slowly; symptoms may not appear for 15 years, sometimes for as long as 40 years after the initial exposure.

Pleural mesotheliomas, involving the lungs, occur about four times as frequently as peritoneal mesothelioma. In pleural mesothelioma usually only one lung is involved. Among mesothelioma victims there are five times as many men as women, a fact which reflects the distribution of men and women in jobs with high exposure to asbestos.

Mesothelioma researchers have determined that exposure to airborne asbestos fibers for as little as one or two months can lead to the development of mesothelioma 30-40 years later. The vermiculite mine in Libby, MT shut down in 1990, but area residents and transient workers had been exposed for decades before then.

"The extent of the epidemic of environmental mesothelioma due to exposures based at Libby will probably not peak for another 10 to 20 years," Whitehouse wrote. "This is a public health problem of considerable magnitude and points to the need for surveillance and early detection of the disease."

Early detection offers patients wider option for treatment, and often for a longer life expectancy from this aggressive cancer.

San Diego mesothelioma lawyer Frederick Schenk and Casey Gerry's team of asbestos attorneys and paralegals in California have helped thousands of people through the claims process and through litigation relating to the disease mesothelioma. Their work has achieved compensation for asbestos victims from the companies that manufactured, installed and sold asbestos products throughout the United States. Mr Schenk and his team of experienced lawyers and staff are dedicated professionals, waiting to assist you and your family in all aspects of the mesothelioma litigation and claims process.


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