Asbestos Study Looks at Environmental Impact

[The Straight Story]

Asbestos Study Looks at Environmental Impact

A new study by U.C. Davis researchers has found that Californians who live near the kind of rocks that can contain asbestos are more likely than others in the state to contract a rare cancer, according to a report in The Sacramento Bee.

Federal officials hope the study, done in cooperation with Harvard University researchers, will help them understand the possible relationship between the rocks and asbestos-related diseases. The study focused on mesothelioma, a rare cancer that affects the cells of the chest wall. It is a cancer that is not known to have many causes apart from asbestos exposure.

People who live in foothills communities, such as El Dorado Hills, where scientists have detected elevated levels of asbestos around areas where dust is stirred up. It is unclear whether people there breathe in enough of the asbestos to become ill.

The study looked at people who lived close to rocks that contain asbestos and found that the risk of getting mesothelioma appeared to decline by 6.3 percent for every 10 kilometers farther away someone lived from possible asbestos veins.


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