Mesothelioma - the emerging new sinister cause of erionite

erionite

The deadly lung cancer known as Mesothelioma is usually associated with exposure to asbestos, a term commonly associated with various commercial industrial and building products. However in recent years there has been a growing awareness that there are other sources of the deadly fine, durable dust which constitutes the asbestos hazard and these sources of lung disease are far more widely dispersed around the world. Asbestos, in fact, is a common name given to six similar silicate compounds which may be either sodium, magnesium, calcium or iron.  A widely found silicate is termed 'erionite' and is caused by the action of water on volcanic ash with deposits of this substance found in mountainous or rocky areas worldwide including Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The threat of erionite has already been proven with extraordinary mesothelioma mortality rates being found in the Cappadocia region ot Turkey where the silicate occurs naturally in vast tracts of rock and throughout the mountains where people live. As a consequence it is also found in the buildings people occupy in that region. In the early studies of recent years, including animal studies, erionite is found to be more likely to cause cancer than asbestos and in fact does. There is little information about erionite and cell biology interaction and hence the capacity to assess at-risk communities remians poor.