Insulator to Deadly Killer

Up until the 1970s, asbestos was commonly used in building as an insulator and nobody thought anything of it. It is commonly found in ceilings, floors, and pipes. Since that time, however, we have learned that breathing in asbestos is very harmful to the body.

Recently, inhaling asbestos fibers for a long period of time has been compared to smoking cigarettes, and one of the long-term "side effects" is also the same. A person can develop lung cancer from either smoking cigarettes for a long time or being exposed to asbestos for too long. If you are a smoker who is also exposed to asbestos, the chances of developing lung cancer increase significantly.

The next two diseases have no other known cause besides asbestos inhalation, thus it is now commonplace to hear about asbestos compensation. You can also develop another type of cancer from inhaling too much asbestos over time, and it is called "Mesothelioma". This is when malignant cells form on the tissue that surrounds most organs (and it is most commonly found outside of the lungs in the case of Mesothelioma). Smoking is not known to increase your risk for Mesothelioma. Similar to lung cancer, this cancer is very difficult to treat - the patients have a median survival time of six to twelve months after first being diagnosed.

Finally, those who have been exposed to asbestos can also suffer from asbestosis. This is not as deadly as the two cancers you can develop from asbestos, but it is still a very annoying disease for people to live with. Asbestosis is when the lung tissue gets scarred from breathing in asbestos. This eventually will cause shortness of breath in a person. In advanced cases, patients will need oxygen therapy in their homes to help with the shortness of breath and so they can breathe. Also, people who suffer from asbestosis are at a greater risk for developing lung cancer. Luckily, people today can still live in buildings where asbestos was used. However, when that asbestos is disturbed (and the fibers are released into the air,) it gets dangerous. This often happens during construction, when the chances of releasing the fibers increase.
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These are just a few of the more severe dangers related to asbestos, which truly is a "silent killer" -- if you have come into contact with asbestos fibers, be it washing your husbands dirty work clothes or simply walking passed a dilapidated building containing asbestos, you could be at risk and entitled to an asbestos claim -- ask the experts at Mesotheliomamatters.com.