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Homeowners with acoustic asbestos ceiling question about the effects of asbestos contained within its materials that if inhaled would cause serious health hazards.

If material contains more than 1% of asbestos, EPA defines as it’s containing. However, asbestos can only be positively identified by microscope. Many of the homes built prior to 1980s observe acoustic asbestos ceilings, and the removal of acoustic asbestos ceiling has become commonly done for environmental safety precautions.

Many homes contain acoustic asbestos ceiling in their bedrooms, living rooms, with spray-applied textures. However, asbestos materials are also in pipe insulation, shingles, floor tile, mastics, roofing, structural steel fireproofing, etc.

University of Arizona Dept. of Risk Management and Safety explains the hazards of asbestos in the following manner.

“Asbestos is a respiratory hazard and espiratory/gastrointestinal carcinogen. Exposure to asbestos occurs when reparable fibers are released into the air and then inhaled. Since exposure occurs when asbestos is inhaled, the best way to prevent exposure is to prevent asbestos fibers from becoming airborne.

Asbestos containing materials are therefore divided into two categories: friable and non-friable. Friable means that a material is able to be reduced to powder by hand pressure. Asbestos containing materials that are friable, by their nature, have a much greater tendency to release fibers. They require specific control measures to prevent releasing fibers into the air. Conversely, non-friable asbestos containing materials, by their nature, do not want to give up their fibers into the air. This class of materials must be mechanically impacted (power tools such as sanders, drills, chippers, saws, etc.) to release fibers. Asbestos containing textured ceiling materials is a friable material.”

Is Asbestos Ceiling Removal Hazardous?

Although breathing of asbestos fibers post threats to human health, unless air contamination occurs to cause releasing of asbestos airborne and becomes friable, it would not affect environment. Moreover, several layers of paint applied to the ceiling over the years serves to “seal” acoustic asbestos ceiling and withhold materials from dangerously contacting occupants.

Homeowners should not unnecessarily impact the ceiling by placing fixtures onto the ceiling or by moving objects surrounding the environment. When done improperly, asbestos becomes into airborne and increases the risk of releasing its fibers to be inhaled. Because asbestos fibers are small and light, they can be suspended in the air for long periods of time. Therefore, unprofessional management of acoustic asbestos ceiling removal should not be preceded and a licensed asbestos abatement professional must conduct removal.

An often forgotten feature of dealing with cancer is what I call ‘after the event’. That is, when your loved one has passed on. The coming months are a particular difficult time for such people.

There is a real danger that during this time the grieving person resorts to addictive substances to get through the trauma. This is understandable but not always the best course of action. You can find myself drinking far too much alcohol (a lot more than the recommended amount per week) for the months following the death.

My experience is that you will then gradually come down to a reasonable level. I’m not advocating drinking as a way of coping. But I’m realistic in that some people will go down this root, so be aware of such behaviour. [I found myself going this way after my father's death in February 2005.]

Being angry and crying, even at the same time, are very common emotions following the event. Don’t feel embarrassed by this. It is perfectly normal. Just try to avoid hurting yourself and others! I found that walking in the countryside was helpful, especially up and down hills. The physical effort will make you feel better and get rid of some of that pent up emotion.

Family & friends should keep a close eye on each other if possible. Following such a trauma it is often the case that people will shut themselves away and shun any social contact. Pick up the telephone and call each other. Keeping in touch with someone who has lost a husband, wife or partner is very, very important.

They have been used to being with a particular person, often for decades, so try to imagine the shock when that person is taken away from them; especially if it is sudden. Try to arrange some event (the theatre, a film etc) so that they will still feel part of the ‘family’ and it will get them socialising again.

It is natural to be more attentive immediately after the event but don’t let it slip into long periods between contact in the future.

They say ‘Time Heals’. I say that ‘Time makes it hurt less’.

At the end of the day death is part of life. We just need to learn to cope with it.

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An exciting new treatment that has given hope to mesothelioma victims is called gene therapy. Gene therapy attempts to decipher why proteins within certain cells cause them to be resilient to cancer while some cells do not. A while back it was believed that genes were complete upon birth, and that they couldn’t affect conditions afflicted during life. This however, turned out to not be the case. Since then we have learned that smoking, sunlight and certain foods can all affect our DNA and make changes to our genetic code. These new insights provided by these conditions have allowed doctors to view many conditions like malignant mesothelioma in a new light.

There are many factors that contribute to Mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure is the primary contributing factor, but genetic mutations in individuals also worsen it. Gene therapy is a revolution in mesothelioma treatment because it replaces cancer-causing genes with genes that are medically constructed to die when exposed to cancerous growth. These ‘suicide genes’ are a possible way to slow and possibly stop the rapid replication of cancerous cells. Studies are also starting to begin experimenting with replacing cancer generating genes with genes susceptible to certain drugs. This would allow the cancer to be potentially eliminated with few side effects.

Gene therapy treatment is still in its beginning stages and is not yet 100% safe. However, this desperate situation suffered by mesothelioma victims, sometimes calls for various experimental treatments. Any hope for surviving mesothelioma outweighs many of the dangers involved.

The amount of information you should give them depends on their age and how grown up they are. Being honest is one thing but giving them all the information at once may be too much. Try spreading it out a bit to ease the shock of the inevitable outcome.

Questions can be answered on a ‘need to know basis’ initially but as more hospital vists are undertaken and the patient is unwell at times then more detail needs to be offered. Getting the same question over and over again from young children can be difficult at times but it should be realised that this is a normal part of their development.

Teenagers may have a particularly hard time as they now have to cope with additional strong emotions and extra responsibilies, as well as the usual emotions which are part of their development into adults. They may need to turn to others outside the family if they find it difficult to talk to family members e.g.family friend, teacher or counsellor.

Grief raises its head everywhere and it is important to reasure children that it is not their fault that this illness has happened. It seems to be common amongst children that they feel they are to blame and these feelings could last for some time.

Additionally, they may need to be put right about what they have heard from friends and other people as it may not be correct.

Children need to be dealt with sensitively but honestly. But manage the communication of information according to age, maturity and circumstances.

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Keep yourself abreast of facts about lung cancer, as the statistics of affliction are staggering and in most cases, lung cancer can even be prevented. Cancer, the dreaded disease, is a malady marked by the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells, which rapidly destroy healthy tissue. Although changes in the lung begin almost immediately upon exposure to carcinogens, lung cancer takes years to develop.

In fact, Mesothelioma research news states that the period of the onset of Mesothelioma cancer could be from 10 to 60 years from the time of exposure to asbestos.

What Do We Know About Lung Cancer So Far?

Lung cancer facts indicate that most people afflicted with the disease are those over fifty who have been smoking for a long period. Research news points out that the symptoms of lung cancer are dependant on several factors, including the location of the tumor in the lung. A chronic cough, repeated lung infections, wheezing, chest pain - any or all of these may be indicative of lung cancer.

Cigarette smoke, with its high concentration of carcinogens, inhaled by both smokers and nonsmokers is the leading cause of lung cancer. Facts about environmental exposure to Radon compounded with smoking increases the risk of lung cancer. Another principal cause of lung cancer is occupational exposure to carcinogens like asbestos, which has been documented in many Mesothelioma lung cancer cases.

Treatment of lung cancer is currently limited in its efficacy. Different types of carcinomas involve different regions of the lung, giving rise to different symptoms, and requiring different lines of treatment.

Lung cancer treatment is also different in cases where cancer cells spread from other organs to the lungs. Apart from surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy in cancer treatment, oncogene research results are positive in their efforts to find drugs that “turn off” the abnormal genes, ending cancer growth.

Lung cancer statistics are in your hands - Do something about it.

There is a new way to treat lung cancer with four-dimensional protons. Sounds way out and kind of science fiction like, but there is some validity to the theory and on-going research. The 4D Proton treatment is different than that of the x-rays traditionally used in radiation type therapies. Protons can potentially obliterate lung tumors without damaging as much localized healthy tissue. There is currently lots of discussion of putting this new technology to work and it has been brought up at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting in Seattle.

In fact a small study was already done on four patients using protons to treat lung cancer. X-ray cancer therapies use multiple beams, which also go thru non-cancerous tissue harming the lungs and tissue as they exit. The positively charged subatomic protons only move a small distance thru the body. Right now it is a bit hard to control the Protons trajectories, however the science is a viable option in the future with further research. By using a 4D methodology they can deal with the expanding and contracting of the lung during the process similar to the approach used in the X-ray version of the treatment.

This treatment is not yet available but should be within a year or two, with clinical trials moving forward. The four patients who were tested on were at the Massachusetts General Hospital saw significant results in all cases. Now an algorithm needs to be develop which can guestimate the trajectory of the protons to be displayed during the operation so that the treatment is fired accurately. It is assumed that this can be done soon and it will be great to have a better process available to beat lung cancer. We are progressing well medically as a nation. Think on this.

Depending on the stage of the disease, the most common treatments are surgical removal of the affected tissues, chemotherapy, or radiation. There is some concern that research into mesothelioma will be minimal, because it is projected to be a short-lived disease in terms of new cases after the next 30 years. However, new research is consistently providing physicians with alternate forms of therapy, and there are many intense studies into control and cure of the disease, so those diagnosed with mesothelioma do have many options and a lot of hope.

Photodynamic therapy is a new approach to treating mesothelioma cancer and is based on using light to kill the cancer cells. In photodynamic therapy, a drug is first administered intravenously that targets and renders the cancerous cells more sensitive in a number of days. The drug is easily eliminated by normal cells, ensuring that they will not be harmed when light therapy is given. After the cells have been given the proper time of exposure to the drug, a special frequency of light laser beams are directed towards the mesothelioma cancer with the intent to eradicate it from the body without having to use more invasive methods. Although there are occasional cases of eye sensitivity and nausea and/or vomiting, the main side effect of photodynamic therapy is skin sensitivity after the procedure is completed.

More information on photodynamic therapy can be found on new Web site, Mesothelioma Help) The Web site contains several informative articles, including a primer on emerging treatments for mesothelioma.

The Web site was a joint product of Meso Marketing and Meso Corp. Said editor Jimmy Atk, “We wanted to make a site that can actually help those coping with mesothelioma, rather than just another ‘A-O #1 Spam’ site. This is a hard thing to face, and it’s sad to see ambulance-chasers dominating this field. We aim to change that with Mesothelioma Info.”

Meso Marketing is a privately held company based in BH, California. For more information. Visit Meso Corp. Visit Mesothelioma Help at