Bio 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 growt...

Asbestos is a fibrous material that was used in home construction and the manufacture of vehicle brakes, plastics, paints and some paper products. Asbestos is harmful to human health. It causes many forms of diseases, some of them being fatal. Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer of the cells that make up the lining around the outside of the lungs and inside the ribs, or around the abdominal organs. This form of cancer is very difficult to diagnose, and responds poorly to therapy. Mesothelioma is a malignant type of cancer and the survival time is less than a year. Malignant mesothelioma is primarily caused by exposure to asbestos fibers, and takes 20 or more years for the disease to develop. Thus, persons who were exposed to mesothelioma twenty years before are still at risk of getting mesothelioma. In the last 20 or so years, professional and non-profit groups have tried to raise awareness about the ill effects of asbestos exposure. Asbestos laws have been enacted to protect people ...