Hundreds of Texans Die from Asbestos Each Year

Asbestos Mortality in Texas

From the Environmental Working Group (ww.ewg.org)

For the full article, please go to: http://www.ewg.org/reports/slowdeath/execsumm.php

At least 259 Texans died in 2002 from just two forms of asbestos disease, according to the most recent data from the National Centers for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control, obtained by the Washington, DC based EWG Action Fund. Mortality is divided roughly evenly between the two diseases, with 132 reported deaths from asbestosis and 127 reported mesothelioma fatalities. More than one third of the deaths in 2002 (103) were in just three metropolitan areas, Houston with 44, Beaumont with 34, and Dallas with 25 (NCHS 2005).

From 1979 through 2002, there were 2,910 reported deaths from asbestosis and mesothelioma in Texas. The majority of these casualties are older men. Hundreds more died from mesothelioma during this period, but are not reflected in federal statistics due to reporting oversights.

Deaths from these two signature asbestos diseases are increasing in Texas, where combined annual mortality has more than tripled since 1989. From 1979 through 2002, the rate of mesothelioma mortality in Texas increased at about 3.5 percent per year; for asbestosis the increase was roughly 4.4 percent annually.

Texas ranks fifth in the nation for total reported asbestos mortality from these two signature diseases, with 2,910 deaths reported between 1979 and 2002. This total, however, is a substantial underestimate of total asbestos mortality in the state because it only accounts for two forms of asbestos disease, mesothelioma and asbestosis, and because mesothelioma fatalities were dramatically undercounted during most of the reporting period.

During the 24-year period analyzed, federal data show 1,434 deaths in Texas from asbestosis, and 1,476 from mesothelioma. EWG Action Fund estimates that roughly an additional 1,000 mesothelioma deaths occured during that time that were not reported to federal health officials. The top Texas metropolitan areas for reported asbestos mortality from 1979 through 2002 are Houston, Beaumont, and Dallas, with 1,245 deaths reported between 1979 and 2002 - 524, 451, and 270 respectively.

*** POSTED APRIL 18, 2005 ***