Japan's Late Action Against Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a terrible killer disease in which the mesothelium cells start dividing rapidly and start to outlive the other cells. This causes tumors and they may spread all throughout the body. These tumors may be cancerous or non- cancerous. When they are cancerous, they are known as malignant form of mesothelioma. When they are non-cancerous, they are known as benign form of mesothelioma. The malignant form leads to immediate death but the benign form does not cause death. However, it affects the patient for his entire life. There is no known cure for mesothelioma. The cause of mesothelioma is well known. Mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos fibers and asbestos dust. When asbestos is mined, manufactured and used, lots of asbestos dust is released. This dust contains minute asbestos fibers, which are light in weight and invisible. This makes them air-borne and they are easily inhaled by people through nose and mouth.

When they are inhaled they travel throughout the body organs in the body. The organs of the body have an outer layer called mesothelium lining. When this lining comes in touch with the asbestos fibers or the asbestos dust, it reacts adversely. It starts dividing rapidly. Also, the life span of the mesothelium cells increase. This causes tumors in the body and this condition is called mesothelioma. Mesothelioma spells 'Death'. There is no known cure for this horrible disease and the only step that can be taken to control the spread of this disease is to impose a complete ban on the mining, manufacture and use of asbestos globally.

UK was the first county to ban asbestos. USA also followed UK's example. While most of the western countries woke up to the harmful effects of asbestos, the East refused to see the light. One of the countries to wake up very late was
Japan. The main reason for this was the irresponsibility and apathy of the officials of Japan. The immediate monetary gains made Japan blind to the future harmful effects of asbestos. Japan neglected public health completely and it was only in 2002 that Japan imposed a complete ban on all types of asbestos. Even this step was taken by Japan only after USA pressurized it to take this step. Japan is the World's second biggest economy. The people of Japan are rich and educated, but still public health was ignored. If this is the situation in Japan, then one shudders to think of the situation in the other Eastern countries.

Also, more than 50% of the men of Japan are smokers. Smoking coupled with asbestos exposure increases the chances of contracting mesothelioma. Thus, it is expected that more than one lakh people will die in Japan, due to mesothelioma, by the year 2040. Mesothelioma has a very long latency period. The time gap between the exposure to asbestos and the onset of the disease in Japan is around 20 to 30 years. Since Japan has been so late in banning asbestos, the effects of this will be felt in the next 30 years.

Japan started using asbestos in the late 19th century. Even then Japan did not mine any asbestos. It only imported asbestos. Only during the World War II, Japan did not import asbestos. Instead, it developed around 50 of it's own mines. Now, all of these mines are closed. The import of asbestos was ever increasing in Japan during the period 1960 - 1980. The highest skyrocketing quantity of asbestos import in Japan was 352160 tons in 1974.

After this, Japan started to slowly wake up to the harmful effects of asbestos. One by one, each type of asbestos was banned. In 1988, blue asbestos was first banned. After that in 1993, brown asbestos was banned. For a long time, Japan argued that white asbestos is not harmful if used with proper safeguards. Finally, only in the year 2002, white asbestos was banned. However, the buildings, gaskets, industrial ropes, etc. that used asbestos in its manufacture still continue to exist. A complete ban on asbestos in Japan will still take some more years to become a reality.

Though Japan was late to take action, the first case of asbestosis in Japan was recorded in 1937 themselves. In 1960, the first case of lung cancer due to asbestos exposure was recorded in Japan. Also, the first case of mesothelioma in Japan was recorded in the year 1973. Around 6 people die every year per million populations in Japan due to mesothelioma. And for every case of mesothelioma, there are 2 cases of asbestos related lung cancer. Even with such shocking statistics, Japan was too slow to take any proper action. It was only after the huge pressure imposed by America, that Japan decided to ban all types of asbestos. Also, there are no proper diagnosis and misdiagnosis of many cases of mesothelioma. Many of the mesothelioma cases go unreported also. So, it is expected that the actual statistics may even be much worse than this.

Also, the number of Japanese men seems to be more as compared to Japanese women, with regards to being afflicted by this disease. This may be because more than 50% of the Japanese men are smokers. Smokers who are exposed to asbestos fibers have a higher risk of contracting this disease as compared to non-smokers. The best thing that can be said about Japan is that at least now it has woken up. Though late, it is much better than never! However, there are some countries like India and China, which have still not imposed a complete ban on all types of asbestos. It is high time these countries wake up and follow the footsteps of its western counterparts.

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Posted in: Action,Against,Japans,Mesothelioma