Malignant mesothelioma is a very rare form of cancer and
disease in which malignant cancer cells are found in the sac lining
the chest , in the lining of the abdominal cavity
or the lining around the heart.
Mesothelioma affects on mesothelium cells of the heart, lungs,
abdomen and reproductive organs. Mesothelioma cancer has a 20 to
50 years latency period. The major mesothelioma agents that cause
this unusual cancer are fiber minerals such as tremolite asbestos,
erionite, winchite and fluoro-edenite. Any fibers shorter than 7-8 mu
and broader than 0.04-0.05 mu are able to produce mesothelioma.
When dust-size particles are inhaled, the crystals enter into the
body by piercing the walls of the organs. Once the particles get
in the organs tissue, they stay there permanently and start
causing a injuring on mesothelium cells.
Mesothelioma was primary associated with environmental
and occupational exposure to asbestos. For the first time
mesothelioma was mentioned and described in South Africa
in the 1950s, Even then was clear that it is not necessary
heavy asbestos exposure. An epidemic of mesothelioma was
documented also in Europe, North America, Australia and
even in Japan. Almost 25 years were needed so the authorities
widely accept and recognize the danger of the asbestos and its
health risks became a more important priority than its commercial value.
The market of asbestos collapsed in the mid 1980s.
In 1975 erionite was mentioned as another mesothelioma risk factor.
Turkish government made a study that uncovered a high incidence of a
malignant mesothelioma in lung tissues of people in certain small
villages in the Cappadocia area in Turkey's central mountainous region.
Erionite is probably the most toxic known mineral; a milligram of fibers in the lungs is lethal.
In November 1999, a Seattle newspaper published a series of articles
on the unusually high incidence of asbestos-related illnesses- mesothelioma
and fatalities among individuals who had lived in Libby, Montana. The analysis
of the asbestiform amphibole fibers from the Libby area show proportions of
about 84 percent winchite, 11 percent richterite, and only 6 percent tremolite asbestos.