Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs. The area most commonly affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining of the abdomen and rarely the sac surrounding the heart, or the sac surrounding each testis may be affected. Signs and symptoms of mesothelioma may include shortness of breath due to fluid around the lung, a swollen abdomen, chest wall pain, cough, feeling tired, and weight loss. These symptoms typically come on slowly.
Barbara Charline Jordan was an American lawyer, educator, and politician. A Democrat, she was the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after Reconstruction, the first Southern African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives, and one of the first two African Americans elected to the U.S. House from the former Confederacy since 1901, alongside Andrew Young of Georgia.
Linda Teresa Sánchez is an American politician and former labor lawyer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 38th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she was first elected to Congress in 2002 in California's 39th congressional district. Sánchez serves on the Ways and Means Committee; she was the ranking member on the House Ethics Committee until 2017. In the 114th Congress, she chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Chrysotile or white asbestos is the most commonly encountered form of asbestos, accounting for approximately 95% of the asbestos in the United States and a similar proportion in other countries. It is a soft, fibrous silicate mineral in the serpentine subgroup of phyllosilicates; as such, it is distinct from other asbestiform minerals in the amphibole group. Its idealized chemical formula is Mg3(Si2O5)(OH)4. The material has physical properties which make it desirable for inclusion in building materials, but poses serious health risks when dispersed into air and inhaled.
The mineral asbestos is subject to a wide range of laws and regulations that relate to its production and use, including mining, manufacturing, use and disposal. Injuries attributed to asbestos have resulted in both workers' compensation claims and injury litigation. Health problems attributed to asbestos include asbestosis, mesothelioma, lung cancer, and diffuse pleural thickening.
Occupational lung diseases comprise a broad group of diseases, including occupational asthma, industrial bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), bronchiolitis obliterans, inhalation injury, interstitial lung diseases, infections, lung cancer and mesothelioma. These can be caused directly or due to immunological response to an exposure to a variety of dusts, chemicals, proteins or organisms. Occupational cases of interstitial lung disease may be misdiagnosed as COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or a myriad of other diseases; leading to a delay in identification of the causative agent.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) is a Washington, D.C.–based professional membership and advocacy organization for public health professionals in the United States. APHA is the largest professional organization of public health professionals in the United States and host the largest gathering of public health professionals in the world at their annual meeting and exhibition. The organization focusses on a wide range of public health issues with programing related to academics, policy, capacity building, and advocacy.
Bernard Douglas Banton AM was an Australian builder and, later, social justice campaigner for asbestos-related diseases. He was the widely recognised face of the legal and political campaign to achieve compensation for the many sufferers of asbestos-related conditions, which they contracted after either working for the company James Hardie or being exposed to James Hardie Industries' products.
World Cancer Day is an international day marked on 4 February to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. World Cancer Day is led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008. The primary goal of World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer and is an opportunity to rally the international community to end the injustice of preventable suffering from cancer. The day is observed by the United Nations.
Irving J. Selikoff was a medical researcher who in the 1960s established a link between the inhalation of asbestos particles and lung-related ailments. His work is largely responsible for the regulation of asbestos today. He also co-discovered a treatment for tuberculosis.
Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion and other processes. Inhalation of asbestos fibres can lead to various dangerous lung conditions, including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer. As a result of these health effects, asbestos is considered a serious health and safety hazard.
The Armley asbestos disaster is a public health problem originating in Armley, a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Described by Dr. Geoffrey Tweedale as a "social disaster", it involved the contamination with asbestos dust of an area consisting of around 1,000 houses in the Armley Lodge area of the city.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is the name given to the cancer that attacks the lining of the abdomen. This type of cancer affects the lining that protects the contents of the abdomen and which also provides a lubricating fluid to enable the organs to move and work properly.
The Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) is a nonprofit organization in the U.S. that helps to preventing asbestos exposure to eliminate asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma, and protecting asbestos victims' civil rights through education, advocacy, and community initiatives. ADAO was founded by Linda Reinstein and Doug Larkin in 2004 and is headquartered in Redondo Beach, California. Three boards lead it: the Board of Directors, Science Advisory Board, and Prevention Advisory Board.
Stephen M. Levin was the medical director of the Mount Sinai Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, a professor of occupational medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the co-director of the World Trade Center Worker and Volunteer Medical Screening Program. A graduate of Wesleyan University and then New York University School of Medicine, Levin was born and raised in Philadelphia to working-class parents; his father was a carpenter, his mother a hospital worker. He was recognized worldwide as a leader in the field of occupational medicine, particularly due to his work on behalf of 9/11 workers and those injured by asbestos in the town of Libby, Montana.
Nancy Tait, born in Enfield, London was a health and safety activist and campaigner who sought to raise awareness of the health risks associated with exposure to asbestos.
Heather Von St. James is an American cancer survivor, cancer research advocate, and blogger. Von St. James serves as a mesothelioma research funding advocate and conference speaker for the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization and Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation.
The Furthering Asbestos Claim Transparency (FACT) Act of 2015 is a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Blake Farenthold that would require asbestos trusts in the United States to file quarterly reports about the payouts they make and personal information on the victims who receive them in a publicly accessible database. The legislation would also allow defendant corporations in asbestos cases to demand information from the trusts for any reason.
All types of asbestos fibers are known to cause serious health hazards in humans. The most common diseases associated with chronic exposure to asbestos are asbestosis and mesothelioma.
Reinstein is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
