The diseases caused by asbestos exposure have claimed the lives of thousands of people over the years, and continue to do so with the lack of action to ban the use of asbestos in the U.S.
About 90,500 Americans have died from diseases caused by asbestos exposure between 2010 and 2019, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed.
Asbestos is a known cancer-causing substance and has been widely used in many industries and workplaces from the 1950s to the 1980s before its eventual regulated use in the US.
The diseases caused by asbestos exposure have claimed the lives of thousands of people over the years, and continue to do so with the lack of action to ban the use of asbestos in the U.S.
Even today, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) estimates that over 1.3 million Americans are still exposed to asbestos in their workplace. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 125 million people are at risk for asbestos exposure around the world.
Asbestos and its deadly toll on American Public Health.
Data obtained by Mesowatch showed that asbestos-related deaths from 2010 to 2019 have only a slight decrease curve, sometimes stable.
During that period, some 90,500 Americans have died from asbestos diseases, which include mesothelioma, asbestosis, and asbestos-related lung cancer.
25,439 Americans have died from mesothelioma, a deadly form of cancer in the lungs caused by scarring in the tissue linings due to inhaled asbestos dust.
While most of the asbestos exposures could have happened between the 1950s and the 1970s, mesothelioma victims can only begin noticing the symptoms 10 to 50 years later, which means the cases could have peaked between 2010 and 2020.
Data from 2010 to 2019 revealed that mesothelioma deaths were highest in 2012 with 2,686 cases, about 10% of the total number recorded in California. The lowest recorded deaths by year was in 2012 with only 2,404.
The state of California has been consistent with the most number of mesothelioma fatality cases in the given period, with 2,502 deaths, followed by Florida with 1,686 and Pennsylvania with 1,532. The District of Columbia recorded the least deaths with 17, followed by Alaska, 55, and Wyoming, 57.
In terms of deaths per 100,000 people, Maine topped the list, recording 1.65 deaths. Delaware and West Virginia came second and third with 1.27 and 1.25 crude rates respectively.
