Author: Nancy Meredith
What the Veterans’ Cancer Registry Reveals About Mesothelioma
Doctors still have much to learn about mesothelioma and how best to treat patients diagnosed with this aggressive cancer linked with asbestos exposure.
To better understand the causes and consequences of mesothelioma, researchers from Creighton University School of Medicine and the Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine in Philadelphia retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 924 veterans diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma between 1995 and 2009 and listed in the Veterans Affairs Cancer Registry.
The median age of the veterans with malignant pleural mesothelioma was 71, according to the researchers who presented their findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference June 3-7 in Chicago. The median age of the veterans with mesothelioma is a reminder of the typical 20-year to 50-year delay between exposure to asbestos and appearance of asbestos disease symptoms. Many veterans of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard likely were exposed to asbestos in their 20s and 30s, but didn’t notice any respiratory symptoms for decades.
From the 1940 through the 1970s, millions of veterans were exposed to asbestos which was widely used in building materials, automotive parts, ships and insulation. The use of asbestos was restricted starting in the late 1970s because of its toxicity to humans. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans who served in shipyards, mining, insulation work, carpentry and construction, demolition of old buildings, and the manufacture of friction products such as brakes were most likely exposed to asbestos.
In the new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the researchers reported that the median survival for the veterans with mesothelioma was seven months. Veterans who had malignant mesothelioma that had not spread and underwent surgery or surgery combined with chemotherapy or radiation tended to live longer.
Nearly 90 percent of veterans diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma were Caucasian and about 9 percent were African American.
In the analysis, some factors observed among the veterans correlated with longer survival including younger age, diagnosis of early stage cancer, the type of cellular structure of the mesothelioma and receipt of surgery.
Approximately, 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the U.S. each year. Most are workers and veterans who were exposed to asbestos for an extended period on the job decades ago.
FDNY Retirements Jump Since 9/11
The number of New York firefighters who have taken disability retirement has increased sharply since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, New York researchers report.
In a new online article in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, New York and New York University analyzed the increased proportion of service-connected accidental disability retirements on the Fire Department of New York pension system.
In the seven years before 9/11, 48 percent of the 3,261 New York firefighters who retired took accidental disability retirements. In seven years after 9/11, 4,502 firefighters retired and 66 percent were accidental disability retirements, nearly half of which were related to injuries or illness from the World Trade Center attacks.
The researchers said that the increase in accidental disability retirements was for the most part due to respiratory-related illnesses. Firefighters have an increased risk of exposure to airborne hazards. Additional increases were attributed to psychological-related illnesses and musculoskeletal injuries from the World Trade Center.
The researchers concluded that the 9/11 attacks affected the health of the FDNY firefighters leading to more retirements than expected and a larger proportion of retirees claiming accidental disability pensions. Pension benefits associated with World Trade Center accidental disability retirements have increased the financial burden on the FDNY pension system by $826 million.
Researchers at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York recently reported in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine that NY emergency personnel who responded after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks have shown an increased incidence of pulmonary inflammation. More than 50,000 men and women were exposed to products of combustion, asbestos and particulate matter after the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
A previous medical study published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that New York firefighters who worked at Ground Zero still have significantly abnormal lung function nearly a decade later. Some dust from the collapsed World Trade Center towers contained asbestos and other toxics, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In December, Congress provided $1.4 billion over five years for ongoing monitoring and treatment of illnesses stemming from exposure to toxic dust and debris after the 9/11 attacks. Over time, the monitoring program may help define what qualifies as a 9/11-related illness. Several groups are currently conducting studies of cancer deaths among ground zero workers.
Some dust from the World Trade Center destruction contained asbestos and other contaminants, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Inhaling airborne asbestos is closely associated with respiratory disease including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung. Symptoms of mesothelioma typically take 20 to 40 years to appear after exposure to asbestos.
Jon Stewart Mocks Canadian Town of Asbestos For Exporting Mesothelioma
The sales pitch that chrysotile asbestos is safe when handled properly sounds even more ludicrous when an unwitting Canadian asbestos mine owner tries to convince a skeptical comedian of its merits. In a recent segment, Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show served up the town of Asbestos, Quebec to international ridicule for continuing to mine and export the deadly mineral fiber to developing countries.
Exposure to asbestos, once widely used in building materials, causes an estimated 100,000 people a year worldwide to die of respiratory diseases including mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer of the lining of the lungs and abdomen. Approximately, 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the U.S. Most are workers who inhaled asbestos fibers in the workplace or Navy veterans exposed to asbestos in ships.
Speaking to The Daily Show, George Gagne, manager of the town of Asbestos, acknowledges that some nations have banned asbestos because it causes mesothelioma. But in the town of Asbestos, town officials and economic boosters encourage more consumption of asbestos to help the local economy.
Bernard Coulombe, head of the Jeffrey Mine, one of Canada’s last remaining asbestos mine, repeats that canard that chrysotile is safe and that industries in India handle asbestos fiber safely. Never mind the scenes from the Canadian Broadcasting Company asbestos documentary showing Indian workers wearing only bandanas tossing bales of asbestos fiber, as if working in a snowstorm. “India is buying 400,000 tons of fiber a year,” Coulombe tells The Daily Show. “In India, they are used to pollution.”
Coulombe still doesn’t realize that he is speaking to a comedian even when the Daily Show interviewer asks, “Does asbestos mean something different in French than in English because in English it means slow, hacking death?”
Only Dr. Matthew Stanbrook, deputy director of the Canadian Medical Association Journal, is clear eyed about the harm asbestos causes. Stanbrook tells The Daily Show that chrysotile asbestos causes cancer and the asbestos mine should be shut down rather than given an extended operating lease with new government subsidies. “As a Canadian, I’m embarrassed that we are sending abroad this product that we’ve all learned not to use here because it’s too dangerous,” Stanbrook says.
Renal Cancer Drug May Give Mesothelioma Patients New Treatment Option
Researchers in Austria report in the May issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology that a drug used to treat kidney cancer may also be a promising treatment for mesothelioma, a cancer linked to asbestos exposure.
Approximately 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year in the U.S. Many are workers who were exposed to asbestos dust in the workplace decades ago. Symptoms typically don’t appear for 20 to 40 years after exposure.
In a pre-clinical study, cancer researchers at the Medical University of Vienna say that a drug called temsirolimus may slow the growth of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a cancer that often resists chemotherapy and radiation.
Temsirolimus works by blocking the action of a protein that regulates cell growth, including cells in cancerous tumors. The drug is commonly used to treat patients with advanced kidney cell carcinoma.
The researchers said that temsirolimus, a kinase inhibitor, had a growth stopping effect on all mesothelioma cells by inhibiting the major oncogene known as mTOR. Oncogene are genes that cause the transformation of normal cells into cancerous tumor cells.
They said the mesothelioma cells that resisted the chemotherapy drug cisplatin, showed hypersensitivity to temsirolimus. That offers the potential that it may be a promising treatment strategy in combination with chemotherapy or as a second-line treatment.
Professor Walter Berger, of the Institute of Cancer Research at the Medical University of Vienna told the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer that the results suggested that clinical trials should be undertaken on drugs that inhibit mTOR as a new mesothelioma treatment strategy.
Environmental Investigator Oversees NY Asbestos Probes
Justus Derx, a federal environmental crimes investigator, has taken part in more than 100 investigations involving large scale asbestos violations, including a probe of a Utica, New York family involved in an illegal asbestos removal coverup scheme.
Asbestos, a mineral fiber long used in building materials, is a human carcinogen. Inhaling asbestos dust can cause mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen, lung cancer or asbestosis, a chronic scarring of the lungs. Because of the toxicity of asbestos to humans, federal laws strictly regulate the removal and disposal of asbestos to prevent inhaling asbestos dust.
But some asbestos removal contractors try to remove asbestos without following rules or falsify reports showing no lingering asbestos dust. That gets the attention of Derx.
“I’ve gone to a lot of places where people have been put in situations where I know their health and the environment have been put at serious risk,” Derx said in a Washington Post profile article.
An accountant by training, Derx serves as the resident agent-in-charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Syracuse, New York office. An investigation by Derx and his team led to criminal charges, indictment and conviction of three members of the Mancuso family in 2009 for illegal asbestos removal activities at numerous locations throughout central and upstate New York.
Paul Mancuso of Utica, NY and members of his family had engaged in numerous illegal asbestos removal projects at schools, businesses and homes, then had workers dump asbestos in the fields of unsuspecting property owners, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release.
Derx said it’s not unusual to go through hundreds of boxes and millions of documents to discover the history of a company and individuals involved in a criminal investigation. Another Derx investigation involved a company that improperly removed asbestos from buildings, then provided fraudulent air monitoring results to clients. That detailed investigation also led to convictions.
Derx said the common motivation of environmental criminals was greed.
Approximately 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Many are exposed to asbestos decades before symptoms of mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer, begin to appear.
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