What Happens if You Breathe in Asbestos?

Many people who breathe in asbestos develop one of the serious illnesses discussed below. Most of these illnesses, like mesothelioma cancer, have very low survival rates, mostly because they are so difficult to diagnose and treat. For example, mesothelioma tumors lurk in the thick membranes of the meso layer which separates the heart and lungs. By the time doctors detect these tumors, the cancer is usually at least at Stage II.

Because people who develop asbestos-related breathing diseases rarely survive, many are fatalistic about their conditions. They do not realize that a partnership with a nationwide asbestos lawyer benefits their families in the short term and the long term. A lawyer connects a victim with a top-notch doctor who makes the victim’s final years much easier. Furthermore, a nationwide asbestos exposure lawyer helps ensure that any settlement provides financial security for future generations.

Direct Asbestos Exposure Illnesses

Asbestos dust and fibers are basically forever chemicals. Once you breathe in asbestos, that toxic mineral stays in your body forever, causing illnesses like:

• Pleural Mesothelioma: Asbestos fibers, and other toxic substances, like breathed-in tobacco, alter cellular DNA, causing cells to stay alive too long and multiply too quickly. These cells that should die off siphon nutrients from other parts of the body. As a result, whether or not the tumors are malignant, many PlM victims almost literally waste away.
• Asbestosis: This disease directly affects the lungs, and specifically the narrow breathing passageways that criss-cross through the lungs. When asbestos fibers burn the linings of these airways, the scar tissue accumulates and blocks these airways. A radical lung transplant effectively treats advanced asbestosis, but many of these victims are over 70 and in poor health and therefore not good candidates for such a procedure.
• Pleural Thickening: In many cases, PlT is a precursor to PlM. In other cases, PlT is a standalone condition, which could be relatively mild or could be quickly fatal, depending on the degree of toxicity-related inflammation. In extreme cases, the pleural layer gets so thick that it literally crushes the lungs.

Cutting-edge treatments, like gene therapy, can treat even advanced cases of mesothelioma. But the therapy and medication usually cost millions of dollars.

An asbestos exposure lawyer obtains the financial resources these victims need to get the best available treatments, as opposed to the treatments an insurance adjuster is willing to pay for.

Indirect Illnesses

Inhaled asbestos fibers also cause many other kinds of cancer, due to the indirect effect these toxic particles have on the body in general.

Asbestos particles stimulate the production of free radical particles in the body. Free radicals are unstable molecules that damage cellular components like DNA, potentially contributing to cancer development. They are naturally produced during metabolism and can also be generated by environmental factors like radiation and pollution. Antioxidants can neutralize free radicals, potentially reducing cancer risk.

High levels of free radicals can contribute to cancer by not only damaging DNA and mutating cells, but also by increasing cellular growth rates, affecting proteins that control gthe rowth, survival, and differentiation of cancer cells.

As a result, we highly encourage all environmental cancer victims to at least visit a nationwide mesothelioma lawyer for a case evaluation.

Connect With a Hard-Working Asbestos Exposure Lawyer

Mesothelioma victims need and deserve significant compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced nationwide mesothelioma lawyer, contact the Throneberry Law Group. Virtual, home, and after-hours visits are available.