Mesothelioma is a form of cancer that affects some parts of the chest, abdominal cavity and heart. Most people who suffered of this dicease got it from environments where they breathe abestos for long periods of time.
Some of the symptoms include: shortness of breath, dry cough. When the doctor listens to the patient's chest with a stethoscope, normal breath sounds are muted, and tapping on the chest will reveal dull rather than hollow sounds.
https://www.mesotheliomaweb.org/symptoms.htm
Have you ever heard about this dicease?. Do you know it could take a few months of breathing abestos to be diagnosed with Mesothelioma 30 years later?. I am not very sure but I suppose if abestos is so dangerous, most countries do not use them anymore? Any light on this issue?.
Edited: LDS_forever on 1st Sep, 2005 - 1:09am
You are right, asbestos has been banned in the USA for many years. However, there are still many buildings that have asbestos -- schools, homes, etc. -- and there are other items with asbestos, such as car brakes. Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral in certain rocks.
Here is the Environmental Protection Agency website detailing asbestos:
Source 5k
There is no real danger with asbestos until it becomes airborne and is inhaled, from what I understand.
Mesothelioma Asbestos
There seems to be some engaging lawsuits about this now with a nickname being 'Mesothelioma Lawsuit', where people that were exposed to asbestos will have a good chance to get compensation. More can be seen here:
https://www.seeq.com/medicalsource/results....rc=quigo:378857
According to: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesothelioma, "Symptoms of mesothelioma may not appear until 20 to 50 years after exposure to asbestos."