Scientists connected asbestos exposure to mesothelioma in the 1930s. The full history of mesothelioma and asbestos came to the forefront in the 20th century when so many industries used asbestos and exposed workers. Subsequent government regulations made life safer for those people who might otherwise have been exposed to asbestos.
About Mesothelioma and Asbestos
Mesothelioma is a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure. Thousands of people receive the diagnosis every year, but researchers are still trying to understand it.
What Is Mesothelioma?
Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium. The mesothelium is a thin double layer of tissue that surrounds the body’s organs. The most common form is pleural mesothelioma, which develops in the part of the mesothelium that surrounds the lungs.
Peritoneal mesothelioma is the second most common type. It grows in the tissue around the abdominal organs. Pericardial mesothelioma (around the heart) and testicular mesothelioma are very rare.
What Is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a group of fibrous minerals found naturally in deposits in the earth. The fibers that make up asbestos have numerous industrial and commercial uses. They resist fire, heat, and chemical reactions. They do not conduct electricity.[1]
These properties make asbestos useful for insulation, fireproofing, sound absorption, cement, and many construction materials and coatings.[1]
Asbestos was mined and used as long ago as 4,500 years ago in Finland and Norway. These ancient people used it in pottery. There is also evidence of asbestos mining and use in ancient China, Greece, and Rome.[2]
Is Mesothelioma Related to Asbestos?
Yes, mesothelioma is related to asbestos use. Although asbestos has been used for thousands of years, industries did not begin using it in large quantities until the 20th century, and an uptick in mesothelioma followed.
Asbestos exposure is the primary cause and risk factor for mesothelioma. While there may be other contributing causes and rare cases of mesothelioma with no asbestos exposure history, asbestos overwhelmingly triggers this cancer.
When Was Mesothelioma First Discovered?
Joseph Lieutaud, a French pathologic anatomist, was the first medical professional to refer to a tumor of the chest wall. In the 1700s, Lieutaud studied several thousand French autopsies and found two cases of what he termed “pleural tumors.”
Although more tumors were discovered in the 1800s, critics of pleural cancer rejected many of these cases, insisting the tumors were secondary. These critics insisted a primary tumor existed elsewhere in the body.[3]
Peritoneal mesothelioma was first mentioned in 1854. This rare cancer affects the abdominal cavity lining and was first discovered by a pathologist named von Rokitansky.
Although von Rokitansky had previously discounted the idea of cancer of the mesothelium, he called it colloid cancer. A later study revealed he had described the first known case of peritoneal mesothelioma.[3]
Pathologists discovered and described several more cases of mesothelioma during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first case to be described in the U.S. occurred in 1890.
The word mesothelioma was first used in 1920 as pathologists described a young man’s tumor as “primary mesothelioma of the pleura.” The name gained popularity, even as experts disagreed about the possibility of a primary tumor in the pleura.[3]
When Was the Link Between Asbestos and Mesothelioma Discovered?
In 1933, mesothelioma and asbestos were linked when a review of asbestosis cases found that complications included tumors. The reviewer, S. Roodhouse Gloyne, concluded that cancer in the pleura of one patient was not related to asbestosis.
Current evidence suggests this might be the first described case of mesothelioma in a patient known to have been exposed to asbestos.[3]
In the 1940s, more people with asbestosis had malignant tumors. In an early study of twenty-nine German asbestos workers, a pathologist found two with signs of pleural malignancies, while 20% had some form of malignancy. This was one of the first studies connecting asbestos and cancer.
Later studies revealed further evidence of connections between asbestos, asbestosis, respiratory illness, and cancer, specifically cancer of the pleura. By the 1950s, some cases specifically connected asbestos to peritoneal mesothelioma. In one patient, asbestos fibers were actually found within the peritoneal tumor.
Finally, in 1960, a seminal paper was published that connected several cases of mesothelioma with an asbestos mine in South Africa.
This paper, called “Diffuse Pleural Mesothelioma and Asbestos Exposure in the Northwestern Cape Providence,” described an investigation of thirty-three patients with mesothelioma.
These patients had been exposed to a certain type of asbestos mined in part of South Africa. Since mesothelioma was rarely seen in any other part of the country, the researchers concluded that asbestos was related to mesothelioma of the pleura.
That same year, another study described a mesothelioma patient with known, long-term exposure to asbestos. The biopsy sample from this patient’s tumor contained actual asbestos fibers, strengthening the connection between the two.[4]
Asbestos and Mesothelioma in the United States
An important study of the relationship between asbestos and mesothelioma appeared in a journal in the United States in 1964. A physician named Dr. Selikoff reported on 1,000 Union Asbestos & Rubber Company workers from Patterson, New Jersey.
These factory workers manufactured asbestos insulation for the United States Navy and had a mortality rate 25% higher than the average person. These workers all died from asbestosis, lung cancer, and other cancers.
Further studies confirmed the connection between asbestos exposure among U.S. workers and the development of cancer, particularly mesothelioma. These and other studies ultimately led to important regulations:[5]
- By the early 1970s, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration set standards for workplace exposure to asbestos.
- In 1971, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) declared asbestos a hazardous pollutant and banned many asbestos-containing products, largely in the construction industry.
- In 1989, the EPA banned nearly all products with asbestos; however, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ban in 1991.
Ban on Asbestos Use Finalized
In March 2024, the federal government finalized the EPA’s ban on asbestos. This final rule, under the Toxic Substance Control Act, prohibits the few ongoing use of asbestos in the U.S., effectively implementing a total ban.[6]
One of the remaining uses of imported raw chrysotile asbestos fibers in the U.S. is in filters used in the chlor-alkali industry. This will now be phased out.
A Legal Milestone for Asbestos Victims
In 1969, Borel vs. Fiberboard Paper Products Corporation was the first legal victory requiring manufacturers to warn workers of asbestos risks.[7]
After years of working in shipyards with products made by the Fiberboard Paper Products Corporation, Borel developed asbestosis. Four years later, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Borel’s victory. Over the next decade, there would be over 16,000 liability and personal injury cases related to asbestos exposure.
In 1982, the Union Asbestos & Rubber Company and Johns Manville, two major manufacturers of asbestos-containing products, declared bankruptcy. These companies faced numerous lawsuits over asbestos exposure and asbestos-related illnesses. Over the next several years, nearly fifty other companies would go bankrupt for the same reason.
Treatment History
Treatment strategies for mesothelioma have developed rapidly over the past sixty years. These are some of the most important mesothelioma treatment advances:
- In the 1940s, doctors began performing pneumonectomies, surgical procedures that removed a lung or part of a lung.
- In the 1960s, pleurectomy was added to the surgical arsenal against mesothelioma.
- By the 1970s, some doctors had tried an aggressive surgery called extrapleural pneumonectomy. This high-risk surgery removes an entire lung, all of the pleura from one side of the chest, part of the diaphragm, and nearby lymph nodes.
- Chemotherapy has also advanced over the years, adding new drugs and drug combinations. Radiation was first used to treat mesothelioma in the 1950s.
Today, a multi-modal treatment approach, using one or more treatments to attack mesothelioma, is common. Researchers are even working on nanoparticles to deliver genetic factors and chemotherapy drugs directly to mesothelioma tumors.
Even after several hundred years of research and study, our understanding of mesothelioma and its causes is not perfect. Researchers continue to study the connection between asbestos and cancer and how mesothelioma develops when there is no asbestos exposure. They also continue to develop more effective treatments in the fight against this devastating disease.
