Ottavio Belvedere and his son Ric Belvedere, owners of Ottavio’s Italian restaurant and Ric’s restaurant in Camarillo, California, will have special menus on Monday, November 5, 2007 and donate half of all receipts received that day to mesothelioma research. This event is in recognition of National Lung Cancer Awareness Month, which is designated as November by the Lung Cancer Alliance. Ottavio was diagnosed with mesothelioma half a year ago and is just one of the approximately 3,000 Americans diagnosed each year.
Source: Eateries to donate to cancer research
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On Thursday, October 4th, 2007 the United States Senate passed the “Ban Asbestos in America Act.” This particular legislation would ban the importation, manufacture, processing and distribution of products containing asbestos. Furthermore it would educate people on the deadliness of exposure to asbestos through a public awareness campaign, and fund the development of treatments for mesothelioma and other asbestos induced diseases (new estimates show that asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma kill 10,000 Americans each year). It would also amend the “Toxic Substances Control Act” and establish a national mesothelioma registry within the next year. This bill will now move to the House of Representatives where it is expected to pass.
Source: U.S. Senate votes to ban asbestos imports and use (Reuters)
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The Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation (MARF) marks today, September 26, as National Meso Awareness Day. As you may very well know meso is short for mesothelioma, which is a generally lethal form of cancer in which membrane cells lining the chest or abdomen become malignant (cancerous). The resulting tumor thickens and hardens, crushing the lungs and suffocating the patient, invading the chest wall so that even breathing becomes painful, or invading the heart, aorta or other vital organs and causing catastrophic failure. Average prognosis for mesothelioma is only four to fourteen months.
Estimates put out by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), show that 20 million Americans are at risk of developing mesothelioma. Furthermore, the horrific events of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina have exposed countless more, especially the heroic rescue workers and first-responders. During the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers, at least 400 tons of asbestos were released into the air in lower Manhattan, putting many more at risk.
The MARF is the nonprofit collaboration of patients, families, physicians, advocates, and researchers dedicated to eradicating the vicious and usually incurable effects of mesothelioma. The Foundation supports research to develop more effective treatments for mesothelioma and ultimately a cure. They have given over $4 million in grants to promising studies around the world.
To find out how you can help, check out the source of this article at: http://www.marf.org/
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As you may of learned from the What is mesothelioma? article, mesothelioma kills well over 2,500 Americans each year. But these figures are not unique to the United States in the United Kingdom for instance just under 2,000 cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year, tens of thousands of South Africans contract asbestos-related diseases including mesothelioma each year, and in Australia the incidence of mesothelioma is about 600 cases out of a population of only 20 million each year .
More than 40 countries (not including America) have outlawed the commercial use of asbestos — the primary substance found to cause mesothelioma. Due to this fact developing countries in Asia and Latin America have been targeted by asbestos manufacturers, where there is pitifully little control over the consumption and use of asbestos and less is publicized concerning its harmful effects and the cancers that can arise from it such as the various types of mesothelioma.
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The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) originally had said that the drug, Altima, could only be used in new or ongoing clinical trials, but their new guidance to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NHS) on whether or not Altima can be prescribed to mesothelioma sufferers allows for the drug to be used on patients with more advanced stages of the cancer. Altima has been shown to improve the symptoms of mesothelioma and extend life.
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Welcome to the Mesothelioma and Asbestos Information Blog. We will cover the latest, most pertinent, mesothelioma and asbestos related news and information on the web.
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