Erionite One Of The Not So Common Causes of Mesothelioma

The causes of mesothelioma has seen the focus mainly on only one material... asbestos, but there are other material with structures similar to asbestos that can cause people to develop the deadly lung disease, if inhaled. One such material is erionite, a not so common cause of mesothelioma of the pleura.

Erionite is a mineral found in volcanic ash that has been weathered over time to form a wooly, fibrous material. It is from a group of minerals known as zeolites. The name erionite itself is derived from the Greek word for wool. Just as with exposure to asbestos, erionite by its very nature and composition, gives the body the same problem of how to discard the cancer material from the body; a problem it cannot solve as the fibers cannot pass through the system and lodge and accumulate in the mesothelium.

People exposed to erionite are therefore at risk of developing mesothelioma.

Recently, it has been shown that erionite is poorly cytotoxic, induces proliferating signals and high growth rate in human mesothelial cells. Additionally, long-term exposure to erionite transforms human mesothelial cells in vitro, leading to rapid development of the cancer cells.

High levels of exposure to the vast erionite deposits is blamed for the high incidence of Mesothelioma in Cappadocia, Turkey and the danger of erionite has been relatively ignored in the US, but now it has been announced at a symposium that a North Dakota road material containing erionite may increase the risk of mesothelioma in that region. The symposium was sponsored by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (ISLAC) and The University of Chicago.

North Dakota is not the only state with deposits of erionite. Neighbors South Dakota along with Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and California also have quantities of erionite.

The causes of Mesothelioma continue to cause health problems due to the long latency of the disease. The erionite in North Dakota is another instance as over 300 miles of road have been paved in the last 30 years. What about South Dakota, Oregon, Arizona, California and Nevada? The problems continue.

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Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brian_Elliott/199405