Organization Honors Asbestos Victims

Source: Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (4/28/2007)

International Workers Memorial DayThe Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), an organization dedicated to serving as the voice of asbestos victims, today, on International Workers Memorial Day, honors and remembers the 100,000 workers killed due to asbestos-caused diseases. Asbestos is still the number one carcinogen in the world of work and causes 54% of all deaths from occupational cancer.

"Given that we are in the 21st century and the hazards of asbestos have been known since the 19th Century, and further revealed in the 20th, it is outrageous that the Congressional tunnel workers were subjected to asbestos exposures over a protracted period of time. Given their exposures and the absence of adequate protection, they have an elevated risk of lung cancer, mesothelioma, and all the other diseases related to asbestos, on top of the asbestosis that has been diagnosed among of members of this group," said Arthur L. Frank MD, PhD and Co-Scientific Director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. "As we pay tribute to former workers on this day of remembrance, we need to take action to protect current workers who are still being abused."

"Asbestos has touched the lives of millions of people, each with names and families, like Nellie Kershaw, the 33 year old factory worker, who was the first case of asbestosis published in medical literature in 1927," said Dr. Richard A. Lemen, Assistant Surgeon General, USPHS (ret.), and Co-Scientific Director of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. "Today we think of the thousands of people, like Nellie Kershaw, who have lost their lives to the highly preventable diseases caused by asbestos."

"Somberly, we honor and remember victims who have died from asbestos exposure," said Linda Reinstein, Executive Director, Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization. "Americans and businesses can't afford to wait any longer for legislation that focuses on education, research and a ban on asbestos. Tragically, many victims' symptoms go unrecognized for years before being diagnosed with an incurable respiratory disease or cancer. Prevention is the only cure for asbestos diseases."