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Asbestos Cord - Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure Risks

Asbestos is a naturally-occurring substance that was widely used as an insulator and flame-retardant for many decades before the dangers were known. Long-term exposure to asbestos is known to cause several different diseases, including a rare but deadly form of cancer called mesothelioma that affects approximately two thousand Americans every year. Tragically, while asbestos is now finally no longer in widespread use, the use of this deadly substance in construction materials and other areas continued long after the dangers were understood.

Asbestos was once very widely used in a range of construction materials, and materials for other purposes, including in asbestos cord. The cord was used in building for uses such as wrapping pipes, in some parts of car engines, in appliances, and for a wide range of industrial purposes.

In 1977, the known dangers of asbestos prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission introduce a country-wide ban on the use of asbestos in consumer products, including in construction and building materials. However, at the time this ban applied only to processes for manufacturing new products. While new manufacturing processes could not add asbestos to building and construction materials, the ban was not enforced for existing supplies of these materials. Even though the ban was instituted in 1977, there were enough pre-existing supplies of asbestos cord and other asbestos-containing materials that these products continued to be used in residential and commercial construction well into the 1980s.

Asbestos is particularly dangerous because the diseases that asbestos exposure causes often take several decades to develop. A person who was exposed to asbestos two or three decades ago may only now begin to show signs of asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma cancer. Mesothelioma is particularly deadly, because the symptoms of this cancer often resemble symptoms of much less serious viral diseases such as flu and pneumonia. For these reasons, mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose.

The presence of asbestos in construction materials is not necessarily dangerous, and living in a home that was constructed using asbestos-containing materials may not be a health hazard. The danger lies in the disturbance of these materials. If asbestos cord and other products are in good condition and left undisturbed, asbestos fibers remain trapped in the materials, and there is little danger. However, disturbance of the materials can allow asbestos fibers to be released into the air, and at this point they may potentially be breathed into the lungs.

If you have developed mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease as a consequence of asbestos exposure at home or at work, contacting an experienced mesothelioma lawyer is an important first step in understanding your legal rights and obtaining both justice and compensation for the exposure.

A mesothelioma lawyer can assist you in determining where and when the exposure occurred and which company or companies are ultimately responsible for the exposure. If, for example, your exposure was a result of the presence of asbestos cord in your home, they can help you track down the manufacturing company, and the company that installed the asbestos-containing material. With this information in hand, they can build a case and help you pursue a lawsuit or settlement to obtain compensation.

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