Asbestos in Products Leads to Cancer
Asbestos is a common mineral that has been found in a range of products that people use every day. The microscopic fibers it contains are lighter than air and resistant to water, heat, and corrosion. If you inhale or ingest asbestos, it won’t break down in the body. Instead, it stays in the organ or tissue and causes inflammation, scarring, and changes to DNA that can lead to cancer and the development of tumors.
Products that may contain dangerous amounts of asbestos include:
- Talcum powder
- Fertilizer
- Car parts
- Construction materials
- Adhesives
- Insulation
- Textiles
- Cookware
- Floor tiles
- Cosmetics
There are three different types of asbestos exposure:
- Occupational: Exposure at work.
- Secondhand: Exposure from skin, hair, or clothing of another person.
- Environmental: Exposure from fibers in the air or contaminated groundwater.
What Are Common Cancers Caused by Asbestos
Asbestos has been linked to different forms of cancer, including lung cancer, ovarian cancer, laryngeal cancer (cancer of the larynx), and mesothelioma, which forms in the lining of various organs.
Johnson & Johnson is facing numerous lawsuits from longtime customers who say that the asbestos found in Johnson & Johnson’s baby powder led to their cancer. In one lawsuit, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $4.7 billion to 22 women and their families who claimed that asbestos in their baby powder contributed to their ovarian cancer. In May 2020, Johnson & Johnson announced it was discontinuing sales of its baby powder in the U.S. and Canada, though it still denies any link to cancer.
Johnson & Johnson and other companies have been hit with lawsuits from plaintiffs who developed mesothelioma as a result of asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma, while relatively rare, is the most common type of cancer associated with asbestos.
What Is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that can be very aggressive. It forms in the lining of the lungs, abdomen, heart, or testes. The only known cause of mesothelioma is from exposure to asbestos, but various factors can increase your risk of developing the disease, such as:
- Smoking
- Advanced age
- Exposure to radiation
- Male
- BAP1 gene mutation or change
When someone inhales or ingests asbestos fibers, they become trapped in the lining of an organ and cause inflammation. Chronic inflammation may lead to the development of cancer.
Types of Mesothelioma
There are four types of mesothelioma based on where the tumor originates. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the most common type, accounting for around 80-90% of cases.
- Pleural mesothelioma starts in the lining of the lungs.
- Peritoneal mesothelioma develops in the abdomen lining and makes up approximately 20% of cases.
- Pericardial mesothelioma is extremely rare. It begins in the lining of the heart.
- Testicular mesothelioma is also rare and develops on the membrane that lines the testes.
Does Mesothelioma Cause Any Symptoms?
Yes. General symptoms of mesothelioma include:
- Blood clots
- Fever
- Fatigue
- Sweating excessively
- Loss of appetite
- Unexplained weight loss
More specific symptoms depend on the type of mesothelioma you have.
Pleural
- Cough
- Shortness of breath
- Pain in the low back or side of the chest
- Voice hoarseness
- Difficulty swallowing
- Face and arm swelling
Peritoneal
- Constipation
- Swollen abdomen or fluid in the abdomen
- Nausea
- Bowel issues
- Vomiting
- Abdominal pain
- Fever
Pericardial
- Chest pain
- Heart murmur
- Irregular heartbeat
- Shortness of breath
- Cough
- Fever
- Fatigue
Testicular
- Groin or testicle pain
- Epididymis cyst or inflammation
- Testicle mass or lump
- Fluid buildup in the scrotum
The Stages of Mesothelioma
Stage I: The tumor is only in the lining of the lung, abdomen, heart, or testicle and hasn’t spread.
Stage II: Cancer cells are still on one side of the body but spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Stage III: The tumor is affecting nearby organs and spread to distant lymph nodes.
Stage IV: The cancer metastasized to both sides of the body and spread to distant organs.
How is Mesothelioma Diagnosed?
Your doctor will perform a thorough physical exam and discuss your medical history. They will move forward with more comprehensive testing if they find signs that you could have mesothelioma or discover any risk factors for cancer.
Imaging Tests
The doctor might perform one of the imaging tests below to create images of the inside of your body and locate tumors.
- CT scan
- Echocardiogram
- PET scan
- Chest x-ray
- MRI
Blood Tests
Individuals with mesothelioma have elevated levels of specific substances:
Soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRPs)
Fibulin-3
Fluid Removal
If cancer causes fluid buildup, a sample could be extracted and tested for cancer cells.
Biopsies
A needle biopsy removes lymph node samples to detect the presence of cancer.
During an endoscopic biopsy, a long tube with a camera on the end looks inside the body and takes out tissue samples for testing.
Is There a Cure for Mesothelioma?
There’s no way to cure mesothelioma; however, treatment can provide a favorable prognosis if you catch it early enough. Your physician will choose one treatment or a combination of treatments depending on your cancer type and stage. For some people, surgery to remove a localized tumor is successful. Others require both surgery and chemotherapy.
Surgery
Most patients with stage I or stage II mesothelioma are eligible for tumor resection, which means the removal of part or all of the tumor. If you’re in good overall health and cancer hasn’t spread to other parts of the body, surgery could be successful. It’s also the best option for a more extended period of remission.
Pleurectomy: Removal of the lining of the lung and chest cavity. It could also include removing the lining of the abdominal cavity and heart. A pleurectomy with decortication involves removing tissue around the lung without needing to remove the lung.
Extrapleural pneumonectomy: The removal of one lung and the surrounding tissue, such as the lining of the abdomen, heart, and part or all of the diaphragm. Only those with good overall health and early-stage mesothelioma qualify for this aggressive procedure.
Peritonectomy: Surgery to treat peritoneal mesothelioma by removing the lining of the abdomen. In cases where the disease spread to other organs in the abdomen, cytoreduction/debulking might be necessary, which involves eliminating visible tumors from the abdominal cavity.
Pericardiectomy: Treatment for pericardial mesothelioma. The lining of the heart gets removed, and most people get it replaced with a surgical Gore-Tex to aid in the heart pumping correctly.
Inguinal orchiectomy: Surgery to treat testicular mesothelioma, which involves removing one or both testicles and the whole spermatic cord.
Palliative surgery: This is an option for patients with stage III or stage IV mesothelioma. Resection of the tumor is no longer an option, and various procedures could help relieve symptoms and improve quality of life.
Multimodal Therapy,/h3>
Multimodal therapy is the most common treatment option for early-stage cancer. It involves combining several treatments, such as chemo, surgery, and radiation therapy, to offer the best chance for patient remission and survival.
Chemotherapy
During chemo, drugs administered by mouth or through a vein, destroy cancer cells and stop them from growing and duplicating. There are many drugs available for chemotherapy treatment, but the most popular are cisplatin or carboplatin with pemetrexed. Studies have shown that combining multiple chemo drugs can provide a better outcome.
Systemic chemotherapy: Drug administered in pill form or intravenously (into a vein through an IV). During this method, the drugs travel through the bloodstream to reach every part of the body affected by cancer.
Intraoperative chemotherapy: During surgery, the doctor applies the drug directly to the tumor to avoid affecting the rest of the body.
Radiation Therapy
During radiation, beams of radiation, such as X-rays, target cancer cells in the body to kill them and prevent them from spreading. The two main types of radiation are external beam radiation and brachytherapy.
External beam radiation: This is a non-invasive procedure that targets tumors with radiation beams. A computer guides the beams towards cancer cells to destroy them while avoiding healthy tissue and organs. A specific type of external beam radiation called intensity-modulated radiation therapy allows adjustments of the beam’s strength for the size of the tumor and its location.
Brachytherapy: This type of treatment is less common, but it’s effective in avoiding damaging healthy tissue near the tumor. High doses of radiation target the cancer directly to shrink and destroy it.
Immunotherapy
This form of treatment uses the body’s own immune system to attack cancer cells.
Adoptive cell transfer: T cells (which are responsible for triggering an immune response) get removed from the tumor and grown in large quantities. After duplication, they get injected into the body through a vein to enhance the body’s immune response and attack cancer cells.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors: Cancer cells will sometimes mimic healthy cell checkpoints, so the immune system doesn’t recognize them as being harmful to the body. With checkpoint inhibitors, the cancer cells can’t invade the immune system and go undetected.
Monoclonal antibodies: Proteins engineered in a lab attach to cancer cells so the immune system can find them and respond appropriately by attacking them.
Did I Develop Cancer from Asbestos Exposure?
If your doctor diagnosed you with mesothelioma, lung cancer, ovarian cancer, or laryngeal cancer, and you recall using a product that contains asbestos, you might be able to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer. There isn’t yet a definitive link between asbestos-containing products and cancer; however, it’s a fact that asbestos causes cancer.
Prolonged use of products with asbestos can increase the risk of inhaling, ingesting, or absorbing it into the skin and developing a disease or adverse side effects. If you’re experiencing any symptoms of mesothelioma, or other asbestos-related cancers, you should contact your doctor immediately to undergo testing. The sooner you diagnose the disease, the better your chance of surviving it.
An experienced lawyer can help you obtain evidence that exposure to asbestos led to your cancer diagnosis. Simply saying you used products containing asbestos isn’t enough. You need documentation, such as product receipts, medical records, and physician statements to prove your claim. Affidavits from people who witnessed your regular use of a specific product could also help.
Can I File an Asbestos Cancer Lawsuit?
Your exposure to asbestos may have led to the development of your cancer. To find out if you qualify for a lawsuit, take our short quiz.
