According to an article in WSAZ news, a Kentucky man has won thirty-two million dollars following an eight-week court case. Ronald Dummitt of Grayson, Kentucky developed rare cancer mesothelioma. After his diagnosis, Dummitt went to court with the companies he suspected were responsible for the cause of his disease, exposure to toxic asbestos.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring substance found in rock formations. Heavily mined and marketed worldwide through the last century, leading industrial nations built their business on asbestos products. Known for its fire resistance and durability, asbestos became a highly sought after commodity in the world of industry, manufacturing and construction.

Unfortunately, health hazards associated with asbestos began surfaces much later. Mesothelioma, a respiratory cancer most often found in lung lining, is caused solely by asbestos exposure. Asbestos fibers, once inhaled, can become lodged in lung lining tissue and begin a cancerous development. Without showing external signs or symptoms for decades, mesothelioma undergoes a latency period of twenty to fifty years. Typically, mesothelioma victims have no idea they are developing the disease until its final and most aggressive stage.

Dummitt developed pleural mesothelioma, which is the type found in lung lining. Peritoneal mesothelioma is another type of the disease, less common and specific to lining tissue of other abdominal cavities.

Dummitt believes he was exposed to asbestos while serving in the US Navy as a boiler tender. For eighteen years he worked on and repaired components in boiler rooms and fire rooms of Navy vessels that required asbestos products and materials.

Asbestos exposure is not uncommon to Naval and military veterans. Asbestos was perhaps most heavily used in military munitions manufacturing and shipbuilding. Today, after years of service, veterans are showing mesothelioma signs and symptoms.

Although there are mesothelioma treatments available there is no known cure. Treatments include surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Mesothelioma treatments are considered palliative, designed to extend patient life expectancy and raise quality of life. There are a few alternatives, and highly aggressive, treatments available, but candidate requirements are quite specific.

While mesothelioma cases grow worldwide, asbestos continues to be used. Although asbestos regulations have become more stringent in some countries, many developing nations have little or no protection in place for asbestos exposure. It is estimated that without an immediate halt of global asbestos use the world could be faced with close to one hundred thousand mesothelioma cases each year.

According to the news article, Dummitt was awarded sixteen million dollars for past pain and suffering, and another sixteen million for future pain and suffering.

International medical officials and government parties continue their efforts to dissuade Canada from asbestos exportation. Known to cause severe respiratory illnesses, including rare cancer mesothelioma, asbestos has been mined in Canada and shipped overseas for decades. Although the 1900s saw many leading industrial markets grow on the backs of asbestos use, health hazards associated with the substance have either discontinued or heavily regulated much of the western world’s asbestos use.

Canada’s asbestos market, backed by the federal government, continues to export its asbestos products to developing countries where health awareness, safety precautions and treatment facilities are rare if present at all. World Health Organization estimates twenty thousand cases of mesothelioma worldwide each year, and this is a conservative estimate considering how many cases are going unrecognized and unrecorded. Without an immediate worldwide ban on asbestos, annual, global mesothelioma case numbers are expected to quickly rise to ninety thousand.

According to a story covered in an article of The Star, one Ottawa woman has taken a different approach to raising awareness about Canada’s asbestos exportation. After loosing her husband Robert to mesothelioma in 2009, Michaela Keyerlingk began considering the incongruence between Canada’s heavy asbestos exportation and the country’s equally heavy domestic asbestos use regulations. Why is Canada leadership willing to sell and ship a substance to other people groups—many known to have limited, if any, health precautions in place–if they are so stringently careful with the substance themselves?

Michaela put a banner ad on the internet that reads: “Canada is the only western country that still exports deadly asbestos!’’ Alone, this ad is bound to draw attention. But to cinch the connection to what Michaela considers hypocrisy on part of Canada’s federal government, she placed the Conservative Party of Canada logo on the banner as well.

Not only did Michaels receive countless responses from people who have also lost loved ones to mesothelioma or are concerned about Canada’s exportation of asbestos, but she received a response from a government official calling her use of the logo unauthorized and requesting that it be removed immediately.

Michaela agreed that her use of the logo is unauthorized, rather than immediately consenting, however, she came back with a request of her own. If a leading government representative would meet with her to hear her story and explain Canada’s asbestos exportation, she would remove the logo. So far, no such meeting has been scheduled and the banner ad continues to gain attention.

UK district of Bradford continues to raise concern in relation to past work hazards. Three recent asbestos related deaths add to more than one hundred from the area. Chairman of Bradford Asbestos Victim Support Group, Carol Deurden, says in the Telegraph and Argus news, “We are getting more and more inquiries about mesothelioma. The national figure is rising every year and is expected to keep on rising.”

Mesothelioma cases are rising. According to World Health Organization they are rising quickly. Caused by toxic chemical asbestos, mesothelioma cases are expected to grow in number until asbestos use is discontinued worldwide. Even then, a peak would be expected to follow decades later. This is due to mesothelioma’s characteristic latency period, ranging from twenty to fifty years.

Currently about twenty thousand reported cases of malignant mesothelioma happen each year. However, thousands are suspected to go unrecognized or unreported. Three thousand cases are in America annually, while UK suffers about two thousand mesothelioma cases each year. In a world of advancing science and medicine, and in a case where the cause is known, these numbers seem just too high to accept.

Postmortems were done on two of the recent Bradford victims, both having been employed in the area in past. Asbestos-caused plaque was found in one, while asbestos fibers were found in the other. The third individual had been advised by his doctors that symptoms he was experiencing were those of mesothelioma.

Asbestos was used heavily through the last century in industrial markets of US, UK, Australia, Japan and other countries. Although asbestos regulations entered most workplaces a few decades ago, the long latency period specific to mesothelioma caused cases to show up as many as fifty or sixty years after original asbestos exposure.

Once asbestos fibers are inhaled they can begin a mutative process in otherwise healthy tissues. This begins development of malignant mesothelioma tumors, which spread through surrounding areas in irregular patterns. Mesothelioma is most often found in protective lung lining, although it does affect other abdominal cavities. Symptoms do not show until decades later, leaving most patients entirely in the dark about their condition.

Mesothelioma treatments exist and include surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy. These are often administered in combination as palliative care in an effort to extend life expectancy and raise quality of life. Mesothelioma patient life expectancy following diagnosis averages eighteen months and is very painful. There is no known cure for mesothelioma.