If you or a loved one were diagnosed with lung cancer resulting from asbestos exposure, you may be entitled to financial compensation. Over 3 billion dollars is available in Asbestos Trust Funds. Call us today to get the facts. Call Toll Free 1-866-777-2557 or fill out our online contact form and a lawyer will respond within 24 hours to answer your questions.
Asbestos is a substance that can be found in nature, specifically in dirt and rocks all over the world. There are actually two kinds of asbestos – chrysotile and amphibole – and both of them have been classified as carcinogens. People have been regularly exposed to asbestos over the years due to its use as a building material in everything from car parts and boats to schools and roofing materials.
As a result of this long-term exposure to asbestos, people have come down with a variety of cancers. The first confirmation that asbestos causes lung cancer was made by the National Cancer Institute back in 1942, and it has been determined that lung cancer as the result of asbestos exposure develops between 15 and 35 years after the person has initially been exposed to the material.
Lung cancer is actually the most commonly diagnosed cancer related to asbestos in the United States, with nearly 5,000 new cases being reported every year. Mesothelioma, another type of lung cancer related to asbestos exposure, is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer related to asbestos. Approximately 3,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma in the U.S. each year, and the condition is almost always caused by asbestos as it is found in nature (unrefined).
About 55 percent of those diagnosed with lung cancer are projected to survive five years if the disease has been detected before it has had the chance to spread. Unfortunately, only about 15 percent of all cases involving lung cancer are diagnosed early. Once the cancer has spread to other organs, the survival rate drops to about four percent for the same five-year period.
Here are some additional statistics insofar as lung cancer is concerned:
• Lung cancer is typically diagnosed among the elderly, with nearly 85 percent of all cases in 2013 occurring in patients 60 years of age or older.
• While more men are diagnosed with lung cancer every year, more women survive longer with the disease.
• About 415,000 patients who are alive today have been diagnosed with lung cancer at some point during their lives.
• Lung cancer is the number-one cause of death (related to cancer) in both men and women in the United States, surpassing breast cancer for women in 1987.
• It was forecasted that in 2016, nearly 225,000 new cases of lung cancer would be diagnosed in the United States. This number makes up nearly 13 percent of all cancer cases.