Asbestos Awareness Week Shines Light on Mesothelioma, a Cancer that Continues to Devastate

The first week of April 2022 is Asbestos Awareness Week in the United States. Members of both houses of Congress unanimously approved resolutions making the designation.

Once ubiquitous in worksites and homes throughout the country, we are still experiencing the negative health effects of asbestos decades after its peak use. Mesothelioma, the insidious cancer caused by asbestos, can take up to 50 years to manifest. When it does, many patients have less than two years to live, although we have seen some promising new treatments recently.

For more than 40 years, lawyers at RPWB have worked on behalf of mesothelioma patients to get them the financial compensation they deserve from asbestos manufacturers who knew about the health consequences of the products they were selling.

It is difficult and heartbreaking to see the men and women who built this great country die from mesothelioma due to the negligence of companies that put profits over people by hiding the ugly truth about asbestos.

While we still see a great number of cases from older people who worked in asbestos-laden industrial worksites through the 1970s, we are now also litigating cases involving much younger individuals who have developed mesothelioma from talcum powder use. This includes young mothers and otherwise healthy people who face a very dire mesothelioma prognosis at the prime of their lives.

Sadly, asbestos and the health consequences of it will still be with us for many more years. Contrary to common belief, asbestos is not banned in the United States and many products still contain talcum powder, which is derived from a mineral that often co-exists with asbestos in the environment.

As asbestos lawyers, we focus on helping mesothelioma patients and their families maximize the financial compensation they get from asbestos companies that manufactured the products that caused the cancer.

Our role as mesothelioma lawyers, however, goes beyond that.

We hold asbestos companies responsible for the human suffering they caused for many decades, even after they knew about the devastating health consequences. It is never acceptable to value profits more than the health and well-being of people. The asbestos industry is rightfully the poster child for what happens when we do. We hope that our work will deter other types of manufacturers from producing products they know to be harmful.

This Asbestos Awareness Week, we are remembering the thousands of mesothelioma victims we have helped in our 45-year history. We remain as committed to helping mesothelioma patients today as we did back in 1976, when our founding member Charles Patrick worked on the first successful product liability lawsuit against asbestos companies.

We hope you never need our services, but we stand ready to assist you if you do. If you receive a mesothelioma diagnosis, give us a call anytime at 1-866-594-8765 or fill out the form on this website. In most cases, we are available to meet with you at your home or another comfortable place within just a few days of calling.

To learn more about mesothelioma, please visit our Mesothelioma Info Center here.

Here is the full text of the Asbestos Awareness Week Resolution:

RESOLUTION

Designating the first week of April 2022 as ‘‘National Asbestos Awareness Week’’.

Whereas dangerous asbestos fibers are invisible and cannot be smelled or tasted;

Whereas the inhalation of airborne asbestos fibers can cause significant damage;

Whereas asbestos fibers can cause cancer, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other health problems;

Whereas symptoms of asbestos-related diseases can take between 10 and 50 years to present themselves;

Whereas the projected life expectancy for an individual diagnosed with mesothelioma is between 6 and 24 months;

Whereas little is known about late-stage treatment of asbestos-related diseases, and there is no cure for those diseases;

Whereas early detection of asbestos-related diseases might give some patients increased treatment options and might improve the prognoses of those patients;

Whereas, although the consumption of asbestos within the United States has been substantially reduced, the United States continues to consume tons of the fibrous mineral each year for use in certain products;

Whereas thousands of people in the United States have died from asbestos-related diseases, and thousands more die every year from those diseases;

Whereas, although individuals continue to be exposed to asbestos, safety measures relating to, and the prevention of, asbestos exposure have significantly reduced the incidence of asbestos-related diseases and can further reduce the incidence of those diseases;

Whereas thousands of workers in the United States face significant asbestos exposure, which has been a cause of occupational cancer;

Whereas a significant percentage of victims of asbestos-related diseases were exposed to asbestos on naval ships and in shipyards;

Whereas asbestos was used in the construction of a significant number of office buildings and public facilities built before 1975;

Whereas people in the small community of Libby, Montana, suffer from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma, at a significantly higher rate than people in the United States as a whole; and

Whereas the designation of a ‘‘National Asbestos Awareness Week’’ will raise public awareness about the prevalence of asbestos-related diseases and the dangers of asbestos exposure: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate—

1. designates the first week of April 2022 as ‘‘National Asbestos Awareness Week’’;
2. urges the Surgeon General to warn and educate people about the public health issue of asbestos exposure, which may be hazardous to their health; and
3. respectfully requests that the Secretary of the Senate transmit a copy of this resolution to the Office of the Surgeon General.