Miners of asbestos

Asbestos (pronounced /æsˈbɛstəs/ or /æzˈbɛstəs/) is a set of six naturally occurring silicate minerals used commercially for their desirable physical properties.[1] They all have in common their eponymous, asbestiform habit: long, (1:20) thin fibrous crystals. The inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause serious illnesses, including malignant lung cancer, mesothelioma (a formerly rare cancer strongly associated with exposure to amphibole asbestos), and asbestosis (a type of pneumoconiosis). Long exposure to high concentrations of asbestos fibers is more likely to cause health problems. This is most common among the miners of asbestos, since they have the longest exposure to it. The European Union has banned all use of asbestos[2] and extraction, manufacture and processing of asbestos products.[3]

Did you know that….? in a recent work with cancer patients who lived in villages scattered geographically, was found that these patients improved their depression and pain when in addition to the usual treatment performed them a telephone follow-up of the same a year?. This study has been published recently (July 2010) in the scientific journal JAMA (The Journal of the American Medical Association) and has been at Indiana University under the direction of Kurt Kroenke.