Mesothelioma

Doctors typically don't see asbestos-related lung cancer or scarring in people who have a brief, non-occupational, environmental exposure, though there is some evidence of increased incidents of Michael Gochfeld, an environmental health professor at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

He is also part of the Environmental Occupational Health Sciences Institute.

Those cases involved people who briefly worked in asbestos factories or who had long-term, second-hand exposure, such as laundering clothes of an asbestos worker who later developed the cancer, he said.

There are few studies on the health impact of asbestos exposure on nearby communities and most of them focus on communities near asbestos-producing sources, Gochfeld said.

He pointed out that it can take 10 to 40 years after any exposure before a person develops asbestos-related health problems.

Medical literature indicates that brief asbestos exposures can result in disease 20 to 40 years later, but the amount inhaled would have to be considerable, added Dr.

Stephen Levin, medical director of occupational and environmental medi...

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