Mesothelioma History
The history of mesothelioma begins with an article published by Wagner et al in 1960 that first established mesothelioma as a disease arising from exposure to crocidolite asbestos. The article referred to over 30 case studies of people who had suffered from mesothelioma in South Africa. Some exposures were transient and some were mine workers.
In the town of Wittenoom, asbestos-containing mine waste was used to cover schoolyards and playgrounds. In 1965 an article in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine established that people who lived in the neighbourhoods of asbestos factories and mines, but did not work in them, had contracted mesothelioma.
In 1974 the first public warnings of the dangers of blue asbestos were published in a cover story called "Is this Killer in Your Home?" in Australia's Bulletin magazine. In 1978 the Western Australian Government decided to phase out the town of Wittenoom, following the publication of a Health Dept. booklet, "The Health Hazard at Wittenoom", containing the results of air sampling and an appraisal of worldwide medical information.
In the early 20th century it was discovered that asbestos is the main cause of mesothelioma. In the 1930's many articles were published that linked asbestos to cancer. The first publication that suggested that asbestos was the primary cause of lung cancer was called "Pulmonary Asbestosis: Carcinoma of the Lung in Asbesto-Silicosis" and it was published in the American Journal of Cancer.
Mesothelioma History
The last asbestos mining existed until 1966 at Wittenoom even in spite of proof that the asbestos dust causes asbestos related disease. Nobody knows why the mine was allowed to operate without any risk control measures. Also a strange fact but nobody did anything to force the owner (CSR) to close down their operations or adopt safer work practices.
Each year more and more evidences that linked asbestos exposure to mesothelioma continued to appear. For instance a medical study that was held in the Western Australian town of Wittenoom that was home to an asbestos mine and mill revealed the first diagnosed case of malignant mesothelioma in an Australian asbestos worker who had worked at the asbestos mine in Wittenoom for three years.
Accordingly people who didn't work in the mines, but lived in the town were exposed to asbestos, which causes the developing mesothelioma. Na at last in 1978 the Western Australian Government phased out the town of Wittenoom.