Residents living around a factory in Japan that produced asbestos products for decades have a death rate from lung cancer that is about three times higher than the national average, a new survey reveals.
The survey was the first full-scale Japanese epidemiological investigation conducted on residents living around an asbestos factory. The results indicate that lung cancer may be increasing due to pollution from asbestos particulates, and the finding is likely to bear an influence on assistance and compensation for lung cancer patients, whose relief measures in the past have been viewed as insufficient.
The survey was conducted with the cooperation of a local residents association. It analyzed responses from 1,907 people from 502 families about their health between 1992 and June 2007, while estimating the concentration of asbestos in the air by applying wind and sunlight data to air pollution dispersion models.
An elliptical area southeast of the factory was found to have the highest level of concentration. There were 234 men living in the area. The national average of deaths from lung cancer in a group this size stands at 2.72, but in actual fact 8 people — excluding those who could have inhaled asbestos at work — died, making the death rate 2.9 times higher than the national average.
The Hashima factory produced asbestos products between 1943 and 2003. Up until 1991 it had handled highly toxic amosite. In health tests, about 50 residents had a condition indicating they had inhaled asbestos. Furthermore, at least four people in the area died from mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused by asbestos exposure.
Tags: Asbestos, asbestos exposure, Asbestosis, Lung Cancer, Mesothelioma