Huge Asbestos Amounts Found in Those who Lived Near Factory

Juluy 19, 2006 - In a finding that supports evidence that asbestos disease can develop without direct contact, two women who lived near a now-defunct asbestos factory in Japan have been found to have massive amounts of toxic blue asbestos in their lungs.

According to an article printed in the Mainichi Daily News, the two women lived near the Kubota Kanzaki factory in Amagasaki.  The factory used blue asbestos, also known as crocidolite, from 1957 to 1975, and white asbestos from 1954 to 1995, determined a team led by Yuji Natori, who owns the Himawari clinic in Tokyo.

"It's almost certain that the women suffered mesothelioma (an aggressive cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs) as a result of inhaling blue asbestos particles," Natori said.

According to the report, doctors conducted the research used an electronic microscope to examine lung tissue in 6 subjects – 5 women and 1 man - all of whom lived near the Kubota factory but were not employed there.  The doctors note that they found 7 to 13 times the average amount of mineral fiber similar to blue asbestos in the lung tissue of two women.

A survey conducted by a Japanese medical university cites that in areas within a radius of 300 meters from Kubota's Kanzaki factory in Amagasaki, the rate of death from mesothelioma is 54 times the national average.