Asbestos And Mesothelioma Reader Digest: 05/15/14

Support National Cancer Research Month to Help Raise Vital Funds for ...

The American Association for Cancer Research announced its support of National Cancer Research Month throughout May. The month was designated as such by Congress 'in recognition of high quality, innovative cancer research.' This month is another opportunity to raise much-needed funding for mesothelioma research. Private donations are critical for enabling researchers and scientists to dedicate the time to focus on developing new therapies that could lead to a breakthrough for mesothelioma.

Each year, nearly 3,000 Americans are diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer typically affecting the lining of the lungs. The asbestos-caused cancer is highly aggressive and is resistant to many cancer treatments, leading researchers throughout the world to spend countless hours searching for a new, effective treatment. There is no cure for the disease.

AACR proclaims that ' Cancer research saves lives,' and is using this statement as the focus for the month. Sadly, 28 people die of cancer every 2 minutes in the U.S. Finding new treatment options for mesothelioma and all cancers is dependent on continued research and successful clinical trials focused on testing the newly developed treatment approaches. However, in 2012 although there were 1000 cancer drugs in the pipeline, just 16 were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to AACR.

Completing a clinical trial and getting approval for an anti-cancer treatment can take more than seven years and over $1 billion, according to AACR. With these startling statistics, it is critical that all Americans do their part in the fight against cancer during the month.

The AACR asks the American public to:

Call on Congress to make cancer research a top national priority. Donate to the AACR Foundation for the prevention and cure of cancer or to another organization of your choice. Participate in a clinical trial as a cancer patient or as a healthy participant to help researchers obtain data. Get informed about the causes of preventable cancer to help decrease the number of cancer diagnoses in the country.

Many hospitals, including mesothelioma specialty centers such as The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center, acknowledge the importance of cancer research and use the month of May as a time to educate the public about the importance of funding cancer research.

The Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center of Seattle, held a lantern lighting ceremony on April 30 to honor loved ones and support lifesaving cancer research to kick off the month.

'Research is the necessary path to ending cancer,' said Dr. Larry Corey, president and director of Fred Hutchison in a press release announcing the importance of the May's research.'

'If we don't all step up and support cancer research we're going to keep losing friends, family and sadly, future generations to this disease,' added Amy Lavin, Obliteride's executive director. Obliteride is a bike ride fundraiser for Fred Hutchison to be held August 10.

Because mesothelioma is rarer than other cancers, there is typically less money devoted specifically to mesothelioma research, prevention and treatment. Every dollar makes a difference for mesothelioma research. To help the fight against mesothelioma, consider making a donation to the Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation in honor of Don Smitley who lost his life to mesothelioma in October. Contributions can be made in Don's memory at http://ift.tt/1k7gNvG.

The Meso Foundation is a national non-profit dedicated to ending the suffering caused by mesothelioma by focusing its efforts on funding mesothelioma research. Each year the Meso Foundation awards grants to the 'best and most promising' mesothelioma research projects.

Like National Cancer Research Month on Facebook and follow #NCRM14 on Twitter to show your support.

For more information about National Cancer Research Month see AACR.org.

Nancy Meredith is a blog and web content writer with more than 20 years of professional experience in the Information Technology industry. She has been writing about Mesothelioma for 4 years. Follow Nancy on Google+

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Lung cancer screening good but will cost Medicare $9.3 billion: Study

Lung cancer is the second most prevalent form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Although screening for the disease can potentially save thousands of lives, findings of a new study suggest that it would cost the Medicare billions of dollars per year should it cover lung cancer screening for heavy smokers who are at risk of the disease.

In the study which will be presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago from May 30 to June 3, researchers looked at Medicare beneficiaries who have history of heavy smoking and estimated the cost of implementing the recommendations of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) on lung cancer screening released in December last year.

The advisory panel recommended that current and former heavy smokers 55 years old and over undergo yearly low-dose CT scan. The screening cost is anywhere between $250 and $300 but can prevent up to 20 percent of lung cancer deaths. USPSTF's recommendation was based on evidence that the benefits of lung cancer screening outweigh the risks associated with overtreatment and overdiagnosis.

Study researcher Joshua Roth, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and colleagues, calculated the cost of the screening as well as the diagnostic work up and care that will be given to patients with newly detected cancer and found that the program would cost the Medicare $9.3 billion over a five-year period which translates to an additional $3 spending per Medicare member per month.

Although lung cancer screening is costly, Roth said that what's really important is to save lives. As of 2010, over 150,000 individuals in the U.S died from lung cancer, which comprise 28 percent of all cancer-related deaths.

'It may be true that lung cancer screening will increase the cost of care, especially in the short term,' Roth said. 'The primary issue is about saving lives. The goal of our healthcare should be to enhance our life and increase our longevity. Its goal should not be to save money.'

Cigarette smoking is the number one risk factor for lung cancer, which does not often show symptoms until it has advanced. Individuals with a family history of the disease and those exposed to secondhand smoke and certain substances such as asbestos and radon are also at risk of developing lung cancer.

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£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

3:00pm Thursday 15th May 2014 in News

By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

Asbestos sheeting. The dust from asbestos causes the lung disease mesothelioma

VICTIMS of an asbestos-induced cancer in East Lancashire are beginning to take advantage of a new assistance scheme designed to compensate now-defunct firms whose insurers cannot be traced.

Dozens of people in the area have contracted mesothelioma after exposure to the material through working at factories and power stations, or in the building trade, from up to 40 or 50 years ago.

The symptoms only emerge after decades and routinely prove fatal - by which time related employers mhave gone out of business. But a new Mesothelioma Act has been passed giving eligible victims the chance to claim compensation packages of around £123,000.

An initial debate in the House of Commons had set the awards at around £115,000 but government sources say they have managed to reduce the administration costs of the scheme.

Mike Penning, Works and Pensions Minister, said: 'This will end years of injustice for mesothelioma victims and their families - who have had to endure this terrible disease with little hope of any compensation from the insurance industry.'

The compensation scheme is supported by the insurance industry and it is estimated that around 800 cases this year, and 300 every subsequent year up to 2024, will benefit.

Around £7,000 in additional legal fees will be available Eighty-six deaths were reported from mesothelioma in in East Lancashire in 2012, with higher proportions in Blackburn with Darwen, Chorley and Pensdle.

A number of asbestos-related deaths have been linked to working at the Garden Street gas mask factory in Blackburn during the war and the former Huncoat Power Station.

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£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

3:00pm Thursday 15th May 2014 in News

By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

3:00pm Thursday 15th May 2014 in East Lancashire

By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

£123k for East Lancs victims of asbestos

3:00pm Thursday 15th May 2014 in East Lancashire

By Peter Magill, Chief reporter

Lung cancer not on many women's radar

Lung cancer not on many women's radar

TUESDAY, May 13, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. women still see breast cancer as a bigger killer than lung cancer, despite the fact that lung cancer kills more Americans each year -- women and men -- than any other cancer.

That's one of the findings from a new American Lung Association (ALA) survey of over 1,000 adult U.S. women.

The poll also found that many women may not appreciate the lung cancer risk to nonsmokers. And few were aware of just how deadly lung cancer remains, in a time of major progress against some other cancers.

According to Alana Burns, vice president of the ALA's Signature Cause Campaign, the poor survival rate may be one reason that lung cancer is not on women's radar.

'With breast cancer, there are so many survivors out there telling their stories and advocating,' Burns said. 'But more than half of women diagnosed with lung cancer are gone within a year. There is no legion of survivors talking about their experiences.'

In the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, followed by lung cancer. But lung cancer is the top killer. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lung cancer kills about 38 out of every 100,000 U.S. women each year. The death rate from breast cancer is 22 per 100,000.

But when the ALA survey respondents were given a list of cancers and asked to pick the top killer of women, 51 percent chose breast cancer. Only 22 percent chose lung cancer.

'It's pretty clear that breast cancer gets more press,' said Dr. Subhakar Mutyala, associate director of the Scott & White Cancer Institute in Temple, Texas.

Plus, he said, since there's routine screening for breast cancer, women and their doctors are talking about the disease.

But unless you're a smoker, your doctor is probably not going to bring up lung cancer, noted Mutyala, who reviewed the survey findings. And while it is possible to screen for lung cancer, he added, that's limited to certain high-risk groups.

Right now, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends annual CT scans for adults aged 55 to 80 who currently smoke or who quit within the past 15 years -- and smoked for at least 30 'pack-years.' That means one pack per day for 30 years, or two packs a day for 15 years, for example.

Smokers are not, however, the only people who get lung cancer. About 10 percent of people diagnosed with the disease never smoked, the ALA states.

But half of the women in the new survey said they were 'not concerned' about lung cancer because they'd never smoked. That included 68 percent of lifelong nonsmokers.

'Many people think of lung cancer as solely a smoker's disease,' Burns said.

Yet, she added, if lung cancer in nonsmokers were considered its own disease, it would rank among the top-10 cancer killers in the United States.

Burns and Mutyala said people should be aware of the risk factors for lung cancer in nonsmokers.

The top cause is exposure to radon gas, which can become concentrated in homes that are built on soil with natural uranium deposits. Other risk factors include chronic exposure to secondhand smoke or air pollution, and on-the-job exposure to pollutants such as diesel exhaust and asbestos. Researchers have also found gene mutations that play a role in some lung cancers.

The prognosis for people with lung cancer remains grim, according to the lung association. Less than half of women with the disease are still alive one year after they're diagnosed -- a statistic few women in the survey said they'd heard before.

Unfortunately, the cancer is usually diagnosed at a late stage. 'Only about 20 percent of lung cancers are operable when people are diagnosed,' Mutyala said.

To help improve that outlook, the ALA wants the U.S. National Institutes of Health to boost its funding for lung cancer research -- from the current level of $213 million per year, to $400 million by 2025. By comparison, current funding for breast cancer research tops $650 million a year, according to estimates from the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

'That's despite the fact that lung cancer kills more people than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined,' Mutyala said.

Burns said women can help by getting involved in efforts to raise awareness and funds. The ALA just launched a new website, dubbed Lung Force (lungforce.org), where people can find information on local charity events, share stories about their experiences with lung cancer, and get information on the disease.

'We want people to learn about the risks,' Burns said. 'This is something that's relevant to you. You should care.' More information

The American Lung Association has facts and figures on lung cancer.