Since 1999 all kinds of asbestos are forbidden for use in Europe. Indeed, new buildings are constructed without asbestos in the walls, pipes or ceiling, and there is no industry that uses this mineral for producing various products. However, the risk of getting asbestos in lungs is still high, as there are a lot of old buildings that spread asbestos fibers into the air. The other sources of exposure also exist today.
The European Parliament initiated a new campaign for protecting European residents from asbestos in 2013. The major role of the project in this process is informative – to spread materials about asbestos-related diseases, to explain people how to recognize that anyone was exposed to asbestos, what consequences it may have and how to get compensation for such diseases. This campaign mostly covered the countries in the Center and East of Europe, because the countries of West Europe were aware of all these aspects since 2006.
The result of this campaign included a summary and a scientific report. These works are mostly used in various asbestos organizations that help the victims of asbestos exposure and workers who are at potential risks to get all required info about their situation.
During the two-days conference within this campaign the major focus was made around diseases caused by asbestos, how to recognize them, the procedures of recognition and getting compensation of these conditions. All information collected from participants was directed to employers, workers and their organization. The biggest group risk are employees in construction industry, and this information will help to understand by every worker his situation and options to improve it.
The diseases related ot asbestos are the same all over the world. According to the report, asbestos becomes dangerous only when inhaled, and even the low concentration of its fibers in the air is enough to cause different health conditions. The fibers that got into lungs stay inside for years without any symptoms and signs of damage. It highly complicates the diagnostics and treatment, causing chronic or fatal diseases and highly decreasing the chances for cure.
Asbestosis is one of the most popular diseases developed by asbestos in lungs. It causes the scarring of lung tissues, lowering their compliance. This process affects the main lungs’ function – the exchange of gases in blood, lowering the level of oxygen in the blood. Shortness of breath accompanied with chest pains and worsening of other organs functioning are the problems of asbestosis. As a rule, 10-20 years passes after asbestos exposure and before the first signs of asbestosis.
Another group of diseases is lung cancer. There are many types of malignant changes in lung tissues, and asbestos exposure is one of the key reasons for their development. A growing tumor leads to problem with breathing, affecting other organs and making normal body functioning impossible. Again, the latent period in case of asbestos exposure takes a couple of decades.
The severest asbestos health condition is mesothelioma. This kind of cancer develops in lungs, peritoneal cavity, pericard or testis. Among cancerous diseases this one has one of the lowest survival rates.
Each country has its own system of recognizing occupational diseases. Some of them use open system that implies recognizing any disease with the proven reason in occupational exposure as occupational disease. Closed system implies that all possible occupational diseases are listed in the national document, and any condition that is not in the list cannot be recognized as an occupational one. The mixed system combines open and close system together, meaning more flexible terms of disease recognition.