Mesothelioma is a rare and terminal form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. The medical community has accepted the link between all types of asbestos exposure and cancer for almost a century. However, mines and manufacturers mining and using chrysotile asbestos falsely claim that the chrysotile type of asbestos is less dangerous than others so they can keep selling it to the third world. There are seven different types of asbestos, which include tremolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, chrysotile, amosite, crocidolite, and Libby amphibole. Chrysotile asbestos was the most commonly used form, found in everything from ceilings to pipe insulation. Every U.S. and global health organization and regulatory bodies agree that for all types of asbestos there is no safe exposure level.
Even Indirect Exposure Increases Risk
A new study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine repeated the well-established norm that all forms of asbestos are dangerous, even through indirect secondary exposure.
Dr. Richard L. Kradin, of the Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Pathology, authored the study. It examined the history of patients at the hospital diagnosed with mesothelioma and linked those patients back to their asbestos exposure.
The results were frightening. They found evidence that even a limited amount of exposure to chrysotile asbestos led to a higher risk for mesothelioma. Like numerous studies over the last century, the authors noted several cases that had developed just from washing work clothes. They also called for further research on low-dose exposure to chrysotile asbestos even as they reaffirmed that there is clearly no safe level of asbestos exposure of any type.