Asbestos And Disease

Asbestos and Disease provides a much-needed comprehensive compendium and presentation of accumulated information on asbestos and disease. Organized into five parts, this book begins with the nature, occurrence, properties, mining, milling, manufacturing, and use of asbestos minerals. Some chapters follow on the identification, quantification, and environmental distribution of asbestos fibers. This book also tackles the asbestotic and neoplastic effects of asbestos. The pathogenic mechanisms, prevention, and control of asbestos are also addressed. This work will provide nonspecialists with easily comprehensible and meaningful data that will assist them in their endeavors in this field.

Pathology of Asbestos-Associated Diseases integrates the newest research and advances in its discussion of asbestos-induced diseases. Organized in 13 chapters, the book begins with background information on the mineralogy of asbestos, occupation and environmental exposure to asbestos, and asbestosis. A detailed discussion on mesothelioma includes a historical background, addresses etiologic considerations and epidemiology, pathologic features, differential diagnosis and treatment and prognosis. Guidelines for assessing and identifying asbestos-associated carcinomas of the lung, including histopathology and differential diagnosis, are discussed. The text also addresses the explosion of research in the area of molecular biology and the abundance of information bearing on the mechanisms by which asbestos causes disease. Chapters also cover cytopathology and experimental models of asbestos-related diseases. The diseases associated with asbestos have significant medico-legal implications, and there are two chapters dedicated to addressing the issue. More than 190 illustrations complement the text. An invaluable reference for the pathologist, pulmonologist, radiologist, and occupational medical practitioner interested in asbestos-related disease as well as malpractice attorneys needing an understanding of asbestos, the diseases it induces, prognosis and clinical implications.

This work covers geology and mineralogy, lung function testing, industrial and commercial hygiene, risk assessment, cellular and molecular interactions, epidemiology of human diseases, physiology, clinical features, regulatory approaches, and absestos litigation. It will be a useful resource for both health professionals and lawyers.

Gives a detailed description of the pathologic abnormalities associated with exposure to asbestos fibres. A tremendous amount of information has been accumulated in the past decade regarding the numbers and types of fibers accumulating in the lulng and their relation to various asbestos-related diseases and exposures. This information is summarized in this book, as well as changing legal strageties challenging workplace exposure.

In conjunction with drafting comprehensive legislation concerning compensation for health effects related to asbestos exposure (the Fairness in Asbestos Injury Act), the Senate Committee on the Judiciary directed the Institute of Medicine to assemble the Committee on Asbestos: Selected Health Effects. This committee was charged with addressing whether asbestos exposure is causally related to adverse health consequences in addition to asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer. Asbestos: Selected Cancers presents the committee's comprehensive distillation of the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literature regarding association between asbestos and colorectal, laryngeal, esophageal, pharyngeal, and stomach cancers.

The first edition of Asbestos: Risk Assessment, Epidemiology, and Health Effects received critical acclaim due to the interdisciplinary nature of its content. Editors Ronald Dodson and Samuel Hammar have carefully kept this popular focus while updating and expanding the topics covered in the first edition with the help of internationally known experts. While there are hundreds of books available on many different aspects of asbestos, none contain the encyclopedic, comprehensive coverage you will find here. See What’s New in the Second Edition: Definitions of asbestos by different methodologies and the potential impact that those forms have on health Internationally accepted sampling/analytical schemes Findings of major asbestos-related diseases that continue to increase in most industrialized countries where asbestos is widely used Information on asbestos-induced diseases in biological systems Expanded regulations chapter Copiously illustrated with diagrams, tables, and photographs, including some in color, the book remains an interdisciplinary resource on the major issues in asbestos exposure and human health, with coverage that spans history, pathology, and epidemiology as well as sampling, analysis, and regulatory issues. The editors’ expertise and careful updating set this book apart, making it a comprehensive resource that interlinks diverse specialties. They provide an updated and expanded state-of-the-art discussion of important interdisciplinary factors associated with asbestos-related issues in an easy-to-use reference.

Although asbestos was once considered a miracle mineral, today even the word itself has ominous implications for all strata of our society. Incorporated in the past into over 3000 different industrial and consumer products, as well as in building materials and military equipment, opportunities for exposure continue to be ever present in our environment. Of all of us who are potentially exposed, blue collar workers are at greatest risk. Countless thousands of workers and servicemen in a wide variety of trades were disabled or have died consequent to the health effects of asbestos, and many more can be expected to be affected in years to come. Litigation continues, and financial awards in the billions have bankrupt many Fortune 500 companies and numerous smaller companies. While one might implicate our forefathers in this widespread, relentless medical catastrophe, it has been only in recent decades that science has appreciated the complexities of the problem and the long latencies before the asbestos-associated diseases appear clinically. After all these years, prevention remains the hallmark of disease control, as modern treatments remain, to a large extent, futile.