The Asbestos Diseases Society of Western Australia has hailed the national government’s efforts in mandating that doctors and patients supply information to the country’s nationwide mesothelioma register. Much of the urgency behind this registry lies in the fact that the country has experienced heightened incidence rates of the disease for the last several years. Australian Scientists are not expecting those rates to reach their highest for at least another seven years.
According to research commissioned by the Asbestos Diseases Society, many new cases are appearing in patients in their forties and fifties. These patients may have visited their parents’ job sites (such as factories, shipyards and construction sites) during their youth, where they may have been exposed to the hazardous dust. Others may have gone into the same line of work as their parents, which may have involved mining, handling or disposing of asbestos.
This exposure to asbestos early in life has led to an increased incidence in mesothelioma in later years. Researchers now know that the disease often exhibits a latency period of several years, sometimes up to three or four decades. Patients who were around loose asbestos during their youth are now showing symptoms of the deadly disease. The increased numbers of mesothelioma patients has led to a health care crisis across Australia.
The West Australian reported that Rose Marie Vojakovic, a counselor with the ADS, has worked with several families affected by mesothelioma. She mentioned that she has seen the disease recur in the same house across generations. She expressed her concerns that even “minimal and innocent” contact with asbestos could have led to some of the cases she has encountered.
While some in the asbestos industry maintain that only prolonged and unprotected asbestos exposure could lead to malignant mesothelioma and other lung diseases, Ms. Vojakovic dismisses the idea. In some instances, an asbestos worker may have brought home the hazardous fibers as they were caught in his clothing. Others involved office workers who may have inhaled fibers that passed through an open window. The West Australian reported that she said “(That idea) is well and truly out the window,”.
Dr. Bill Musk is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Western Australia and one of the country’s leading experts on mesothelioma. During his forty-year career, he has kept precise records on mesothelioma patients. The West Australian reported that he said that the national registry would be an invaluable data source for other doctors, scientists and researchers looking into the causes and expansion of the disease.
He also mentioned that the federal government might consider granting more funds to the individual states to cover the costs of treating the disease. Dr. Musk also advocated the development of a questionnaire that would document a worker’s exposure to the toxic dust and to determine if any “safe” exposure levels exist.
The new Australian Mesothelioma Registry will begin collecting data this summer. A group of researchers from both the Western Australia Cancer Registry and the Cancer Institute of New South Wales will oversee the data collection tasks and process the information. Once the researchers compile the data and reach their conclusions, they will make recommendations to the state and federal governments for more safety measures and possible asbestos restrictions and bans.
