NIOSH Says Maine Highest in Mesothelioma

According to recently released research from the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, or NIOSH - an arm of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Maine has the nation's highest death rate from mesothelioma.
The CDC describes mesothelioma as a fatal cancer primarily associated with exposure to asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral found in rock formations. The latency period between exposure and clinical manifestations of the disease, or recognizable symptoms and subsequent diagnosis, is commonly 20 to 40 years, though it may be longer.
Mesothelioma, which attacks the mesothelial linings in the lungs and abdomen, is the result of miniscule asbestos fibers that, when inhaled or ingested, irritate mesothelial tissues. This irritation, or inflammation, leads to mesothelioma, which has no known cure. Most patients die within a year to 18 months of diagnosis.
Before 1970, asbestos was used in a wide range of products, from insulation to floor tiles, tile adhesives, acoustical ceiling tiles, plaster and acoustical or insulative sprays on walls or ceilings.
Asbestos is no longer mined in the United States, and manufacturing processes limit it to one percent or less under 1989 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulings, but imported products still contain asbestos in unregulated amounts.
Because of this failure to regulate, the CDC estimates that 1.3 million construction and industrial workers are currently being exposed to potentially lethal asbestos. This is in addition to the millions of workers already exposed. CDC calculates that, between 1999 and 2005, 18,068 individuals died from mesothelioma, with the rate remaining relatively stable at about 14.1 individuals per million per year.
Maine's rate, on the other hand, stands at 27.5 individuals per million during the same period. This is the highest death rate from mesothelioma in the entire country. Second in mortality was Wyoming, with 22.2 deaths per million, followed by West Virginia with 21; Pennsylvania with 20.8; New Jersey with 20.2; and Washington with 20.1. Males accounted for more than 80 percent of those deaths, and Caucasians for more than 95 percent.
From 2000 to 2004, two counties - Sagadahoc in Maine, and Koochiching in Minnesota - had age-adjusted malignant mesothelioma death rates that exceeded the national average by 500 percent. During that same period, nearly 20 percent of victims were female, and more than 30 percent lived in one of five states: California, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Construction work accounts for 15 percent of mesothelioma deaths. Other venues with a high rate of mesothelioma include ship (and boat) building and repair, chemical manufacturing, petroleum refining, and the utility industry. Trades or occupations most at risk include pipefitters, steamfitters, plumbers, mechanical engineers, electricians and elementary school teachers.
Mesothelioma commonly strikes older individuals. For example, there were only 311 deaths in the under-45 age group during the 1999-2005 period, but 8,858 deaths among those 75 and older. Thanks to legislation and increasing oversight during demolition of older buildings, mesothelioma deaths are expected to peak next year and then gradually decline to pre-1999 levels.
According to NIOSH, Maine's higher rate of mesothelioma is due to the state's smaller population, blue-collar worker-based economy, and the large number of purpose-built older buildings which were rehabbed for additional use (as residences, for example) rather than being demolished.
Ki Moon Bang, a senior epidemiologist for NIOSH, speaking to Maine Public Broadcasting, noted that, historically, Maine employers like textile mills, paper mills and ship builders used significant amounts of asbestos in structures that date from the early 1900s or earlier. To make his point, Bang cited the Bath Iron Works shipyard, located on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine and built in 1826.

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