New study links environmental exposure to asbestos with increased risk of mesothelioma

An important scientific study that has just been released linking environmental exposure to asbestos with an increased risk of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer caused by exposure to the mineral.

The study by Binazzi et al. was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, and found “an excess of mesothelioma incidence confirmed in sites with a known past history of direct use of asbestos.”

It concluded asbestos pollution is a risk for people living in polluted areas, due to not only occupational exposure in industrial settings with direct use of asbestos, but also the presence of asbestos in the environment.

Asbestos has been linked to ‘in excess of 2,000 deaths’ from mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer each year in the UK, according to the Health and Safety Executive. Symptoms take many years, even decades, to appear after originally being exposed to the microscopic fibres. There is no cure.