New Australian Research Group Tackles Mesothelioma
In Australia this week, a new research group dedicated to addressing the needs of mesothelioma sufferers was launched by Karen Banton, widow of long-time asbestos campaigner, Bernie Banton.
According to a press release from Research Australia, “the Asbestos Research Group will facilitate research and raise awareness of asbestosis and asbestos-related diseases both to the medical fraternity and the general community, with the aims of improving treatment and enhancing the quality of life of those affected.”
The Group, headed by Brisbane-based doctors Roger Allen and Maurice Heiner, “will analyze the progression of the disease over time as the basis for further research into reduced lung function then study asbestos-pleural pain. It will also analyze the physical, emotional and financial effects of the disease on patients.”
Dr. Allen has treated mesothelioma patients for the past 20 years and has viewed first-hand the terrible effects of the disease.
“I continue to see middle-aged adults dying from mesothelioma or asbestosis, the victims of decades of appalling indifference around the world to the known dangers of asbestos, and the ravages of asbestos will continue for decades to come,” Dr Allen said. “One of our Group’s highest priorities will be to highlight these tragic effects in a world where the mining and export of asbestos continues in many countries.”
Dr Allen also says a “second peak” of asbestos-related cancers and asbestosis will hit Australia in the next 20 years and said that it had been forecast that between 2000 and 2050 an estimated 27,000 deaths from mesothelioma would occur in that country.
“However, the number of mesothelioma patients was just the tip of the iceberg”, he said. “The vast majority of patients with asbestos diseases suffer from benign asbestos pleural disease and asbestosis. The pain they endure was the subject of the first research project of the newly established Asbestos Research Group, the results of which I hope will be published and lead to greater recognition of benign asbestos pleural pain.”
