5. Lung cancer from asbestos exposure
Lung cancer is a common and usually fatal type of cancer that occurs in almost 40,000 people in the UK each year. Far and away the main cause is cigarette smoking. However, it was known from the 1940's and 1950's that excessive numbers of asbestos workers die of this disease. The risk is such that a man with asbestosis who smokes 20 cigarettes per day has a 50% chance of dying of lung cancer. A non-asbestos exposed 20 per day smoker in contrast has a 13% chance, which is bad enough! The evidence again suggests that the more asbestos a worker has been exposed to, the greater his risk of lung cancer.
According to Andrew Darnton and his colleagues at the Health and Safety Executive 2, asbestos-related lung cancer probably causes 2-3% of all lung cancer deaths in males in Britain, approximately one asbestos-related lung cancer death for each mesothelioma that is diagnosed. There is some evidence that the risk of lung cancer is highest with exposure to crocidolite or amosite and to a lesser extent for chrysotile, although there is a great deal of variation in the lung cancer risks between different workplaces studied.
Lung cancer usually progresses rapidly by spreading to new sites round the body and so far methods for early detection have proved unsuccessful in improving the outlook for patients. Occasionally patients may be cured by major surgery, but essentially the hope for control of this disease lies in persuading people not to smoke. This applies with special force to asbestos workers.
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