Did you know there's no known safe level of asbestos exposure?

Although rare, mesothelioma is the most common form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure.

Asbestosis is a disease caused by inhalation of asbestos fibres. There's no known safe level of asbestos exposure. However, it's thought the higher the levels of asbestos and the longer the time someone is exposed to it, the greater their risk of developing problems. Who's affected? Anyone who's exposed to asbestos may develop an asbestos-related illness.

For more than 50 years, products containing asbestos remained unregulated. At some point in our lives, nearly all of us have been exposed to asbestos in the air we breathe and the water we drink or from natural deposits. More commonly, those who at some point are diagnosed with asbestos disease, have worked in jobs where more substantial exposure occurred over longer periods of time.

Many studies have shown that the combination of smoking and asbestos exposure is particularly hazardous. Smokers who are also exposed to asbestos have a greatly increased risk of lung cancer. However, smoking combined with asbestos exposure does not appear to increase the risk of mesothelioma.

There are several diseases associated with asbestos exposure. Not all of them are fatal, but all damage the health and quality of life of those affected. But mesothelioma is sometimes not acknowledged to be caused by asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma of the lung is usually readily attributed to asbestos exposure. Mesothelioma of the lining of the stomach is a little less readily recognised.

Malignant mesothelioma, or sometimes called mesothelioma asbestos, is a type of deadly lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Inhalation of asbestos dust is the primary means by which asbestos exposure leads to mesothelioma asbestos. This asbestos exposure led many laborers and townspeople to develop "asbestos lung cancer" (a layman's term for mesothelioma).