Chicago Symposium in Thoracic Oncology reveals the severity of erionite levels in North DakotaChicago, Illinois - Erionite, a naturally occurring mineral, has fibers that are physically, but not chemically, similar to asbestos fibers. Both of these toxic minerals have been linked to causing mesothelioma, a rare cancer of the protective lining of the body’s major cavities and organs.
Recently, erionite has been big news, as it was first found to be the cause of mesothelioma deaths in Cappadocia, Turkey and has now been found in the gravel covering the roads in western North Dakota. Since this discovery, Doctor Michele Carbone, of the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, and researchers from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Geological Survey, and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) have been assessing erionite exposure in Dunn County, North Dakota.
At the Multidisciplinary Symposium in Thoracic Oncology in Chicago, Illinois, Carbone reported that average erionite exposure levels along North Dakota roads and inside of vehicles traveling along said roads are equal to or greater than those found in the Turkish village of Boyali, where malignant mesothelioma accounts for 6.2% of all deaths. However, the levels were lower than those found in villages where mesothelioma accounted for 26% to 52% of all deaths.
Cases of mesothelioma have yet to be detected in North Dakota because erionite gravel has only been used to make roads over the past two to three decades, and mesothelioma takes an average of 40 years to develop. However, once detected, patients must undergo aggressive mesothelioma treatment, which includes some combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, in order to add an additional six months to their life expectancy.
