Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos. In this disease, malignant cells develop in the mesothelium, a protective lining that covers most of the body’s internal organs. Its most common site is the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall but it may also occur in the lining of the abdominal cavity, the heart or around the heart.

Doctors Explanation

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 14 by a respiratory specialist, Professor Robinson. These were the words told to the court during Liborio’s case:

The respiratory specialist Professor Robinson appeared as an expert witness for the plaintiff. Under examination by Mr. Lampropoulos he described the process of mesothelioma. “Malignant pleural mesthelioma” he said “is a malignant tumor of the sac in which the lung sits, known as the pleura, and it’s usually caused by asbestos exposure.

The usual process is that a person inhales asbestos fibres on average about thirty years or so before getting the actual tumor, though this can vary. The blue asbestos fibres that caused Liborio’s mesothelioma are very sharp, shaped like a spear or a javelin, and they pierce the lung tissue. They may cause scarring on the lung tissue itself, but they work their way through the lung into the surrounding tissue and enter it, where we believe they puncture the cells. In so doing they cause genetic tissue damage to the cells, and over a period of years, they continue to do so. This is what is considered to happen.

To get the actual cancer, they need to have the unfortunate collection of say ten to fifteen of these particular types of genetic damage to get cancer genes, at which time the cancer will grow and become manifest. It’s largley a question of chance why some people get the genetic damaged cells that lead to cancer and others don’t. Probabily everyones who’s exposed to these types of asbestos get some genetic damage in these cells. Some will get the set required, others will not”.

Video on Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is having a dramatic impact around the world. This short film was produced in the United Kingdom to raise awareness of the issues around mesothelioma. While it doesn’t focus specifically on Australian cases it carries a poigant message. It includes interviews with people who have the disease and family members of those who have suffered Mesothelioma. It was produced for Action Mesothelioma Day on belhalf of Forum of Asbestos Victim Support Groups in the United Kingdom.

More Information About Mesothelioma

If you would like more information about mesothelioma you can find it online from sites such as:
» Asbestos Diseases Society of Australia Inc.
» Mesothelioma – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mesothelioma in the News

This is an article published in The Associated Press

ITALY: Two men to be tried in Italy over asbestos deaths

7/22/2009 1:37 PM
ARIEL DAVID Associated Press Writer

ROME (AP) ___ An Italian judge on Wednesday ordered a Belgian man and a Swiss man to stand trial for alleged negligence leading to hundreds of deaths linked to asbestos plants.

Prosecutors say Stephan Schmidheiny of Switzerland and Jean-Louis de Cartier of Belgium were key shareholders in Eternit, a Swiss construction company. They allege the two were ultimately responsible for the death of some 2000 workers and residents from asbestos-related diseases .
Most of the cases occurred around an Eternit plant in Casale Monferrato, a town near Turin.

Lawyers and prosecutors said the two are charged with causing an environmental disaster and failing to take proper precautions. Their trial is set to begin Dec. 10 in Turin.

The two men, who deny wrongdoing, could face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.

Eternit closed its Italian operation in 1986, but people continue to become sick as a result of the contamination, prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello said.
He alledged that Eternit spread asbestos fibers over wide areas by allowing powder left over from the production of roof coverings and pipes to spread in the air. They also sold asbestos locally for the construction of roads and houses, Guariniello told the Associated Press.

The company worked to hide the danger from the public, downplaying and limiting information on the well-established link between asbestos and sickness when dealing with unions and the media, he said.

Schmidheiny and de Cartier do not deny that the deaths were caused by asbestos, but claim they did everything they could to limit the risks and inform the public, said Astolfo Di Amato, a lawyer for the Swiss businessman.

Di Amato noted as bestos was mined and used in Casale and other areas since the start of the 20th century and said “ it’s unthinkable that our client should be found responsible for the mistakes of others.”

He said they had not yet decided if Schmidheiny, who lives in Switzerland, would take the stand in the trial. Suspects are not obliged to attend their trials in Italy.

A lawyer for de Cartier did not return calls Wednesday.
Schmidheiny’s spokesman, Peter Schuemann, said in an e-mail that Schmidheiny “was never the owner of the Italian factory, but the biggest shareholder of the Swiss Eternit Group for just a few years. Before, Italian owners steered the company and afterward Belgians.”

Prosecutors have submitted documents showing managers at the Italian company received orders from the Swiss and Belgian owners, Guariniello said.
He said the company had also done nothing to help the contaminated areas, leaving authorities in Casale and other towns saddled with the huge costs of the still ongoing cleanup operation.

“Just a few days ago we took pictures of roads covered in asbestos powder,” he said. “They placed an ecological bomb and done nothing to defuse it.”
In addition to the dead, some 800 residents and former workers are still suffering from illnesses including asbestosis and mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining, said Bruno Pesce, the head of a victims association. Up to 50 new cases are diagnosed each year in Casale alone.

Some 3,000 victims and family members have joined in a civil lawsuit attached to the criminal proceedings in Turin. Many were in the courtroom Wednesday and cried and applauded after the ruling , Pesce said.

The plaintiffs had not yet decided how much to ask in damages, Pesce said , stressing that the important thing was to try those allegedly responsible.

“It’s an historic moment,”he said. “We hope that this trial will repay part of the debt that Eternit owes the families of the victims.”

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.