Mesothelioma cancer worry!! Advice/Info anyone?

[alwaysworrying19]

Hi Everyone,
I don't know whether I have posted this in the wrong place but I suffer with HA and normally it is all centred around my heart.
However, my new worry is about the cancer Mesothelioma that is normally caused by exposure to asbestos. But you see, the worry is not about me, but for my boyfriend.
A few years ago, a company he used to work for, had the warehouse roof removed that contained asbestos and from what he has told me, the company didn't really follow the rules on asbestos removal and so I am afraid that my boyfriend has been exposed to some asbestos and is going to get the awful cancer :(
I was just wondering if anyone can offer any advice on Mesothelioma. I have read its a rare cancer and is caused by exposure to asbestos but do the people who get this cancer normally have long term heavy exposure to asbestos? Considering how commonly asbestos used to be used years ago, do a lot of people get ill from asbestos exposure?

Please, any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you :)

[bettykitten]

I think you usually are at risk if you've had a prolonged exposure to it. A lot of factory workers from the 50s/60s/70s were tested for it because many of them had worked with asbestos for decades.

Your boyfriend's company sound shocking, though! Asbestos roofs have been illegal for years and there are strict guidelines on its removal. I am sure he will be fine, though.

[Keith]

If he is no longer exposed to it I wouldn't worry.

[countrygirl]

I was brought up in a shipbuilding town which is now the asbestos cancer world record holder:mad: due to the workers like welders and boilermakers being exposed to blue asbestos dust for most of their working life until regulations changed in the 1980's. Even some of their wives died of it due to washing their overalls!

BUT saying that these people had many many years of exposure in a cramped working environment, asbestos in the open air is not a risk, my daugher in law was an enironmental officer and she said that there are loads of garage fires with asbestos roofs and because its out in the air its not much of a hazard/ Also it takes up to 30 years for any exposure to show itself.

Asbestos cancer is rare and almost exclusively to professions that worked with it in closed areas for many many years. Also there are two types of asbestos blue and white - blue used in industry and the worst offender and white in building that was nowhere near as bad. I remember ironing boards in the 1970's having asbestos plates for putting your irons on and they always flaked off!!! if this was a hazard then every woman in britian over 65 would be doomed:).

My friends husband worked as a car mechanic and is now in his 70's and he spent most of his working life blowing out brake linings in cars and the brake linings were asbestos and he is fine so you don't need to worry.

[alwaysworrying19]

Thank you for all your replies :)
Countrygirl, do you know if the asbestos in these roof tiles were likely to be the white kind of asbestos?

[blueangel]

Many years ago, I worked for a company that did environmental testing for asbestos removal. If I remember rightly, the blue asbestos is the most dangerous, followed by white, then brown. It's to do with the size and type of the fibres, as in general they are very sharp and needle-like, which is why they can be absorbed into the body.

If your boyfriend was dealing with the tiles and they weren't broken, then the danger of inhaling asbestos is fairly low. It becomes more risky if you're dealing with broken material, where dust is flying around, particularly if you're in a closed environment rather than the open air.

I can't remember whether there are any tests to determine if you've inhaled asbestos fibres, but one thing he could do is go and chat with his GP about it, as I'm sure he'd be able to send him for a chest x-ray/

Hope this helps!

[alwaysworrying19]

Hi Blueangel,
My boyfriend wasn't dealing with the tiles personally, he was just in the warehouse as they were removing them from the roof. I have read that roofs that contain asbestos are normally concrete and therefore the asbestos is contained within the roof tiles. Does this sound right to you?
Also, as this was about 6 years ago now, would a doctors be able to tell if my boyfriend had been exposed to asbestos through listening to his chest or blood tests etc??

[countrygirl]

Your boyfriend would not have had any asbestoc exposure as he was not personally removing the tiles. Unbroken tiles are completely safe anyway and they would not have been of the blue asbestos variety as this was not used in roofs.

I really really think you can completely forget this one - if you had said he was helping removing asbestos tiles from a roof and they were all broken and the company he worked for had not followed safety then yes he should be checked out but from what you have said he is totally in the clear.