Asbestos Related Disease

Asbestos-related diseases can range from mild and benign to malignant and life-threatening. Malignant diseases tend to be less common than benign illnesses, yet some of the benign conditions are just as serious as cancer. Asbestosis — a benign illness — led to more deaths per year between 1999 and 2001 than asbestos-induced gastrointestinal cancer did during the same time frame. Not everyone who is exposed to asbestos will get one of these diseases. However, exposure does increase a person’s lifelong risk the developing one or more of these conditions. This elevated risk lasts for decades after exposure.