Ten years ago, the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) expanded their reach by making the first week of April National Asbestos Awareness Week. Soon after, other countries suffering from the carcinogen’s deadly effects joined and transformed the week into a global occasion.
The ADAO started in 2004 to provide a voice for victims of asbestos while raising awareness about the dangers involved with exposure. Through advocacy, education and community, the organization works to achieve their vision of eliminating diseases caused by asbestos, including asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma.
Now the largest asbestos-related nonprofit in the United States, ADAO holds the annual awareness week April 1 to 7 to further inform the public about the deadly consequences caused by asbestos. The 2014 theme is “Asbestos: One Word. One World. One Week.”
Each day features a different story and subject, highlighting different facts about asbestos and tales of those affected by asbestos-related diseases. Additionally, ADAO created the Global Asbestos Awareness Week Declaration for a Worldwide Asbestos Ban that you can sign via their website. The list of those who sign will be published the last day of the week.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 125 million people around the globe experience asbestos exposure in their workplace. As a result, an estimated 107,000 die each year from asbestos-related diseases. For every three deaths caused by occupational cancer, one is linked to asbestos exposure.
For many years, workers handled and inhaled asbestos daily in their work without realizing the deadly effects. Others who laundered the workers’ clothes or lived near a factory were exposed by proximity. While standards are now in place, the consequences of the past are not easily forgotten. Cancers like mesothelioma take decades to develop and once diagnosed, the life expectancy is less than a year on average.
Footnotes
ADAO. (2012). About ADAO. [Link]
ADAO. (2014). Asbestos: One word, one word, one week. April 1-7, Global Asbestos Awareness Week. [Link]
World Health Organization. (2010). Asbestos: elimination of asbestos-related diseases. [Link]
