FreeMesotheliomaInfo.com

This CD-ROM has tens of thousands of pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software. Advanced search and indexing features of the current version of Adobe Reader provide a complete full-text index. This enables the user to search all the files on the disc at one time for words or phrases using just one search command! The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of medical documents and material.

Our CD-ROMs are privately-compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents – they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed or printed without untold hours of tedious searching and downloading. This book-on-a-disc makes a superb reference work and educational tool for patients and their families, physicians, and other medical professionals. (Information on this CD-ROM is not a substitute for professional medical advice; of course, readers are urged to consult with a professional health care provider for any suspected illness.)

“Extensive bibliographies, appendices listing the natural and synthetic fibrous minerals and materials, together with a mineralogical and medical glossary, complete a professional overview of a serious problem.” –Australian Mineral Foundation Informative Book Review
“This monograph may not only be useful for occupational professionals, it’s worth reading also for all those, concerned with environmental health.” –Arbeitsmedizin

This comprehensive sourcebook describes the chemical, physical, and mineralogical aspects of fibrous inorganic materials, both synthetic and naturally occurring. A general description of the fibrous state, the range of compounds that can adopt this form, and an overview of the characteristics unique to such materials form the backbone of the book . The authors also assess the application and use of asbestos and other fibrous materials in industry and evaluate their potential as health hazards. The information gathered here will be highly useful to medical investigators and legal professionals involved in environmental health.

In the early twentieth century, asbestos had a reputation as a lifesaver. In 1960, however, it became known that even relatively brief exposure to asbestos can cause mesothelioma, a virulent and lethal cancer.
Yet the bulk of the world’s asbestos was mined after 1960. Asbestos usage in many countries continued unabated.

This is the first global history of how the asbestos industry and its allies in government, insurance, and medicine defended the product throughout the twentieth century. It explains how mining and manufacture could continue despite overwhelming medical evidence as to the risks. The argument advanced in this book is that asbestos has proved so enduring because the industry was able to mount a successful defense strategy for the mineral–a strategy that still operates in some parts of the world. This defence involved the shaping of the public debate by censoring, and sometimes corrupting, scientific research, nurturing scientific uncertainty, and using allies in government, insurance, and medicine.
The book also discusses the problems of asbestos in the environment, compensating victims, and the continued use of asbestos in the developing world. Its global focus shows how asbestos can be seen as a model for many occupational diseases–indeed for a whole range of hazards produced by industrial societies. The book is based on a wealth of documentary material gained from legal discovery, supplemented by evidence from the authors’ visits and researches in the US, the UK, Canada, Kazakhstan, Zimbabwe, Australia, Swaziland, and South Africa.